British Artist Songs: American vs. Canadian chart

[jcs72]

Is it me, or do British artists fare better on the Canadian vs. the American Top 40 charts? Four examples:

"Nights In White Satin" (Moody Blues, 1972 release) - peaked at #2 US, #1 Canada

"Helen Wheels" (Paul McCartney and Wings, 1973) - peaked at #10 US, #4 Canada

"Blow Away" (George Harrison, 1979) - peaked at #16 US (but #2 AC), #7 Canada

"I've Never Been To Me" (Charlene, 1982 release) - peaked at #3 US, #1 Canada


Oh, and IIRC Charlene, despite being born stateside, was living in England when "INBTM" was on the AT40 charts according to Casey in one of those 1982 countdowns.

[canat40fan]

Yes that's always seemed to be the case. There was a lot of immigration from the the UK to Canada after WWII and the musical tastes and radio airplay reflected it. That was the case in the early 60's, but I was too young at the time. I really noticed it in the 70's where the British Rock bands(Supertramp, Genesis, Pink Floyd etc) were constantly at the top of the Canadian Album Charts and seemed to have success here first before in the States.

In the early 80's, Genesis and Phil Collins were already well established here and the singles from the "Face Value" and "Abacab" were reaching or coming close to the top of the Canadian charts. By comparison, those singles had lukewarm success on Billboard's Hot 100. Phil and Genesis, of course, would later become singles machines in the US and had great success starting around 1984.

The second British invasion started earlier here and it seemed like there was a 6-12 month delay of bands like Culture Club , Tears For Fears etc hitting it big stateside compared to here. When my US border stations would add the songs to their playlists, I was getting sick of hearing some of the songs that seemed to be in heavy rotation for about a year

[canat40fan]

Some Examples of early 80's Genesis/Phil Collins peak Canadian/US Chart positions:


"Misunderstanding #14 US #1 Canada
"No Reply At All" #29 US #7 Canada
"Abacab" #26 US #11 Canada
"I Missed Again" #19 US #6 Canada
"In The Air Tonight" #19 US #2 Canada

Some random early 80's examples of other British artists including the Jon and Vangelis #1 hit in Canada that I don't think made the Hot 100:

"Pass The Dutchie" #10 US #1 Canada
"Hungry Like The Wolf" #3 US #1 Canada
"The Friends of Mr. Cairo" #? US #1 Canada
"Tainted Love" #7 US #1 Canada
"Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" #3 US #1 Canada
"Gemini Dream" #12 US #1 Canada

[blackbowl68]

james, if you have any copies of the Canadian trade magazine that calculated the rankings of their hit records, see if radio airplay was ever factored into the mix. This could be a big factor in this discrepancy.

I read somewhere the United States is one of few countries that incorporates airplay into their popularity charts. That is further compounded by the overall conservative nature imposed by morale in many US territories.

[canat40fan]

It looks like James was taking his information from the RPM Magazine charts. These were compiled using both sales and airplay data.

[at40petebattistini]

If you're really into Canadian charts, a Whitburn-style book was published in 2000 by Nanda Lwin. "Top 40 Hits" used a variety of charts (Steede Report, CRIA, CBC, etc.) from 1975-1999 and provides similar song and artist information.

[jcs72]

Mar 2, 2013 23:16:13 GMT -5 canat40fan said:

It looks like James was taking his information from the RPM Magazine charts. These were compiled using both sales and airplay data.

Yes. RPM is what Wikipedia uses in the lists of the artists' singles.

[canat40fan]

Mar 3, 2013 1:50:11 GMT -5 at40petebattistini said:

If you're really into Canadian charts, a Whitburn-style book was published in 2000 by Nanda Lwin. "Top 40 Hits" used a variety of charts (Steede Report, CRIA, CBC, etc.) from 1975-1999 and provides similar song and artist information.

That's great to know, Pete. Thanks, I didn't know that such a book existed. I'll definitely have to try to get my hands on a copy of it.