Traumatic Gay Midweeks

Kratz

Kratz

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Inner Smile said:
10 YEARS ON AND STILL INCREDIBLE :disco:

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Seriously, what a song. Another of their string of ‘Midweek Numbers Ones’…ultimately beaten by Pixie Lott’s All About Tonight :(
 
VoR said:
I suspect the list of midweek gay #7-10s would be even more heartbreaking.
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#11s is a tragedy that writes itself

Precious - Rewind (for a start)
 
Ahhh, I miss the midweeks...because the release schedule was still set on Mondays, you knew that certain fanbases flocked to the stores and what happened in the shops on a Saturday (especially Woolworths) was critical to yr chart position. The excruciating drops from midweek to the chart were particularly evident on the album chart (I remember The Fall going from #18 to #35). Remember the lengths they would go to stop people revealing the midweeks? Now they tweet the fucking things themselves, desperate for anyone to give a tin shit.
 
Nice work, whoever is responsible. Midweek disappointments were all the rage before streaming took over.

I remember Marina & The Diamonds missing out on the top 10 thanks to Justin Beiber...whose song Marina had sung on the Live Lounge whilst on the promo trail. :octy:
 
lolly said:
I'd love a list of midweek gay #1s
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Surely there should be SOME recognition for the gays and girls buying and streaming everything immediately upon release, only to be THWARTED when everyone else catches up days later.
 
Not quite the same as most of these examples but I remember reading (probably in a post from RobotBoy) about Dannii's label expecting You Won't Forget About Me to be her first #1, and even booking some party/event in advance for the celebrations

Then the midweeks came in
 
I remember Woolworths putting Jamelia Boy Next Door at #2 in their singles chart, so not so good when it missed the top 40.

Oh god, Sam Mumba Gotta Tell You was number 1 until losing at the last minute to Eminem

Sugababes Wear My Kiss was #3 and ended up at #7 (maybe not a terrible fate but I think they needed it to be really big at that point)
 
Rebel Heart being midweek #1 but losing out to Sam Smith at the last minute :(

Then being #1 on sales in the US but debuting at #2 due to a lack of streaming :(
 
Suomi said:
I remember Woolworths putting Jamelia Boy Next Door at #2 in their singles chart, so not so good when it missed the top 40.
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Really!? :D

I remember them getting a good few wrong, like the Geri V Emma and I seem to think they didn't place Cornershop's Brimful of Asha.
 
Kind of the opposite, but the week "Forever" by Tina Cousins was released as a single the charts didn't include sales from one chain (Our Price I think?) so it landed outside the top 40. 20ish years later they added them in and it is now a #38 hit :disco:
 
Suomi said:
I remember Woolworths putting Jamelia Boy Next Door at #2 in their singles chart, so not so good when it missed the top 40.

Oh god, Sam Mumba Gotta Tell You was number 1 until losing at the last minute to Eminem

Sugababes Wear My Kiss was #3 and ended up at #7 (maybe not a terrible fate but I think they needed it to be really big at that point)
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:disco:

If Woolworths was anything like Hamblin's home video on Whitehall Rd BS5 in the mid/late 80s, their chart was compiled by a gay fantasist with nothing better to do, who always had the latest Sigourney Weaver, Bette Midler and Cher films at #1, regardless of the latest Schwarzenegger, Cruise or Gibson film that was #1 everywhere else :eyes:
 
I remember Woolies fucking up quite a few new releases because they had their own chart based on their own orders and of course thought they knew best

A lot of the songs that hung around in the mid to late 90s (which was rare in the era of chart high and plummet) was because stores under bought, had stocking issues, then eventually got stock in. So a few rare songs climbed

I remember

That Aerosmith Armageddon song
Leanne Rimes How Do I Live
TLC No scrubs
Jennifer Paige Crush
That dance the night away tune
Toploader

I remember arguing with my Woolies manager saying we’ve not ordered enough En Vogue Don’t Let Go, and she ignored me, the cue my smug face when she’s on the phone desperately trying to order them midweek because it’s selling like hot cakes. I think it entered around #5, definitely could have gone higher if Woolies had predicted better. It hung around the Top Ten about 8 weeks - very rare for a song that didn’t go to #1

We won’t talk about the fact that they regrouped and put the follow up single Whatever in at #4 ish in their chart and it ended up limping in at about #14 :(
 
I’ve mentioned it before but the best midweeks ever was the week Cher went to #1… it was meant to be a battle between the returns of George Michael, U2, Culture Club and Alanis Morissette, Cher was a distant 5th in orders

The absolute FRENZY at work trying to re-order Cher when she sold out in the first day and the manager saying there’s nothing available. Often you’d rob stock off a nearby store but nobody had anything

The only single I’ve ever seen sell faster in the 6 years I worked in music retail was the Diana single.
 
And I've certainly mentioned this before (at least twice), but the JOY of new release Monday and my lunch break that day - being able to pop into town, hit Virgin, Woolworths, two branches of Our Price, HMV, Boots, WHSmiths and two indies all within a five minute walk of each other to see all the new releases. And discovering new things you never even knew existed.
 
One I remember everyone getting wrong was Will Young's Leave Right Now. I think Gareth Gates has already flopped a bit with his comeback so it was assumed Will would too. By Tuesday morning, you couldn't buy it ANYWHERE and it was a very hasty repressing to get it back on the shelves. Meanwhile, Shane Ritchie didn't get a #1. OH WELL.
 
auretz said:
Kind of the opposite, but the week "Forever" by Tina Cousins was released as a single the charts didn't include sales from one chain (Our Price I think?) so it landed outside the top 40. 20ish years later they added them in and it is now a #38 hit :disco:
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THIS I did not know, and WONDERFUL news, I was obsessed
 
lolly said:
And I've certainly mentioned this before (at least twice), but the JOY of new release Monday and my lunch break that day - being able to pop into town, hit Virgin, Woolworths, two branches of Our Price, HMV, Boots, WHSmiths and two indies all within a five minute walk of each other to see all the new releases. And discovering new things you never even knew existed.
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I proper miss it. Monday lunchtime, within a 10 minute walk of 6 or 7 shops...Woolies for any chart singles, usually as they were cheapest. HMV/Virgin/Fopp for non-chart singles (ie Autechre, Stereolab), albums and ephemera (no merch in Woolies unless it was Spice Girls, Take That, Boyzone etc).
 
Dannii Minogue was a notable victim of STOCKING ISSUES.

Put The Needle On It was expected to contend for #1 and stocked accordingly, so when it tanked at #7, stores were much more conservative on I Begin To Wonder, which actually DID contend for #1. :(
 
funky said:
A lot of the songs that hung around in the mid to late 90s (which was rare in the era of chart high and plummet) was because stores under bought, had stocking issues, then eventually got stock in.
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I know it became a joke but "stocking problems" really was a thing. And it usually translated as "Woolworths are a shower of bastards".
 
octophone said:
I proper miss it. Monday lunchtime, within a 10 minute walk of 6 or 7 shops...Woolies for any chart singles, usually as they were cheapest. HMV/Virgin/Fopp for non-chart singles (ie Autechre, Stereolab), albums and ephemera (no merch in Woolies unless it was Spice Girls, Take That, Boyzone etc).
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I always used to meet my friend who worked the other side of town and we'd do the circuit together. And see the same people out each week. Some of whom I still see out and about occasionally. I have no idea of their names, but there's always a nod and smile of acknowledgement.
 
The power Woolies had was extreme, at least as far as singles (and therefore largely pop music) was concerned. I guess the nearest modern day equivalent would be being first on (or left off entirely) the Spotify new release playlists.
 
Obviously "Euphoria" was a midweek #1 in 2012 too, eventually overtaken by Rudimental & John Newman
 
One of my favourite Moopy threads ever was the running discussion based on the midweeks when the Rage Against The Machine vs X Factor campaign was on. An actual fun week, that.
 
Another fond HMV memory is the time I genuinely spent about half an hour looking through our new stock for the Judy Nunn ‘Sex Over Phone’ CD single, which Moopy had reliably informed me was making a surprise break into the top 40. :basil:
 
lolly said:
The power Woolies had was extreme, at least as far as singles (and therefore largely pop music) was concerned. I guess the nearest modern day equivalent would be being first on (or left off entirely) the Spotify new release playlists.
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Can you imagine how well fed, watered and powdered the Woolies music buyers were, considering all their clients were record label execs?!

I wonder if any of them are still standing today…
 
lolly said:
The power Woolies had was extreme, at least as far as singles (and therefore largely pop music) was concerned. I guess the nearest modern day equivalent would be being first on (or left off entirely) the Spotify new release playlists.
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Tell that to Jamelia
 
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