Billboard - Top Music Videos

I noticed there were several Christian albums in the top 100 on Billboard.

 

What is Billboard? My favorite artists have rarely if ever been on the top of a Billboard. Not even The Who with their great Quadrophenia album. Alan Parsons, King Crimson, Yes (90125 excepted). Then again, I'm a prog fan. Did Hornsby have a #1? But now his music is much more off mainstream for Billboard. Being on the Billboard really doesn't mean much, I don't think. If a Christian singer or group is selling albums, thats the key. Billboard is just a manipulative and preset thing.

 

SSSSSWWWEEEEETTTT! That rocks. Go God!

UNP, Adam

 

Jimmy Higgins asked:

What is Billboard?

It's the most important trade publication in the music industry (i.e. its audience is the people actually in that industry, not the mass market, like Rolling Stone.

My favorite artists have rarely if ever been on the top of a Billboard. Not even The Who with their great Quadrophenia album. Alan Parsons, King Crimson, Yes (90125 excepted).

That's because none of those groups have been wildly popular in the same way as, say, Elvis, Billy Joel, or Britney Spears. They may be artistically superior, but since Billboard tracks single and album sales, it is by definition a popular chart, not a critical-acclaim chart.

Then again, I'm a prog fan. Did Hornsby have a #1?

Yes, "The Way It Is" in 1986.

If a Christian singer or group is selling albums, thats the key. Billboard is just a manipulative and preset thing.

If a Christian group is selling albums, then if they sell enough of them they will chart with Billboard. The little research I did indicates that Jars of Clay peaked at #8 on the album chart in 1996, which is perfectly respectable for any artist, not to mention one as explicitly Christian as JoC.

 

Ransom, hmm. The Way It Is went #1. Oh goody goody. Actually, End of the Innocence with that Eagles guy probably went #1 too.

I think what I meant to say was that Billboard seems to be very short term. Spears albums will not be bought in ten years like Floyd's, The Who, Beatles are selling well after they are done. If Christian Music wants to be successful, it needs to look long term, not Billboard. Here's an interesting question. How many toppers of the Billboard are long term clients? Jackson, Madonna, Joel, John. The list isn't endless. Nirvana is gone, along with grunge. So is Def Leppard and the likes from the 80's/90's. The future is in future sales of an old album. That dictates the strength of an album and its influence. So, if I were a christian rock fan, I'd certainly wouldn't want it all on the Billboard because it would indicate a probable fad.

 

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think what I meant to say was that Billboard seems to be very short term.

Well, yes . . . any popular album has a period in which it sells like hotcakes but then sells less strongly.

So, if I were a christian rock fan, I'd certainly wouldn't want it all on the Billboard because it would indicate a probable fad.

I think you're over-generalizing here. To cite a significant counter-example, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon topped the Billboard album chart, but it also stayed within the top 200 for thirteen years after its initial release. Of the best-selling albums of all time, a distinct majority topped the album charts, and a majority are pop giants, only a few of them being flash-in-the-pan artists (Hootie and the Blowfish, Backstreet Boys, etc.).

Naturally you're going to see the same sorts of trends in Christian music, albeit in a smaller scale. Only ten or so years ago a Christian bestseller chart looked like an Amy Grant or Michael W. Smith discography, but there's much more variety to choose from these days.

There's another reason not to be on the Billboard chart: your music is crud. And there's an awful lot of crud in the Christian music industry, given that the majority of acts are following established trends and producing unoriginal pablum (witness the explosion of boy/girl bands this year).

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ransom:
...And there's an awful lot of crud in the Christian music industry, given that the majority of acts are following established trends and producing unoriginal pablum (witness the explosion of boy/girl bands this year).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah...what's up with that anyway?

Kathy
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