Re: A note about changes to AT40

[Hervard]

I'd just like to say that I knew all along that it was upper management who made the decisions for the changes to AT40. They were also the ones who made several moronic decisions for AT40 Flashback, but seeing as that issue has been beaten to a pulp (I'm still trying to vacuum it out of my carpet), I won't go into that.
At first I didn't really like the changes, but now I'm getting used to them. I don't listen to the show, but I do scan the chart and I have fun comparing it to the corresponding R&R chart. And I've noticed that the recurrents have been sliding down a little faster (you remember the weird 37-30-off move for Jessica Simpson's ancient hit "With You"). There are currently about six or seven recurrents on the AT40 chart and most of them are below #30. On the October 23 chart (I still haven't looked at the chart for this past week's show since I've been busy), everything from #34 on the corresponding R&R chart was also on the AT40 chart.
As for the "staff is trying to purposefully keep Avril off" deal - I knew that wasn't true. On that other message board, I may have mentioned that, but it was "in jest". I've said this before and I'll say it again - on that message board, we tend to joke around a little. I knew that it was not a conspiracy, but more or less a mistake.

I agree that many people have gone overboard with complaints about the show. If I have come off as being one of them, I apologize, because as I've said, I didn't really like the changes at first, but I am getting used to them.
A word of suggestion to the people who are complaining to no end about the changes: Ask the upper management of AT40 if they're hiring.

[Hervard]

Hey Torin, did AT40 implement a recurrent rule this week? I noticed that a whole slew of old songs dropped out this week.

[DougB]

Hey it looks like that's exactly what's happened. The recurrent rule is back after a ten month abscence! As far as one can tell from the first week (11/6/04), songs below #25 fall off after so many weeks. Speaking for myself...'ALRIGHT!!' Any move that gets more new music on to the show is AOK by me. In addition, now the 'Out Of The Box' will be a song actually below the MB 24/7 Top 40 and not something that's been on their chart for a week or two. My compliments to whom ever made the call!

[Hervard]

That's right. For instance, this week, "Hush" by LL Cool J was the "Out Of The Box" pick, and that's at #40 on the R&R chart.

And it looks like the rule applies to songs that have been on the AT40 chart for 20 weeks (hence the inclusion of Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" even though it's recurrent on R&R). I really like this idea. Now we hear more new songs.

[Hervard]

Well, then where did those seven debuts come from? And what happened to songs that were way up in the Top 30, like "Dip It Low" and "Yeah!"? Looks like a recurrent rule to me.

Unless they just did a chart purge, like AT20 AC did back during their brief use of that weird Mediabase chart (the one they used from October 2000 through August 2001).

[Hervard]

Looks like the chart purge is most likely. I remember the week that AT20 switched to "the weird Mediabase list" as it seems to have come to be known, seven songs dropped off the chart, and six of them were all songs that had been on since the beginning of time. The other one was "The One" by the Backstreet Boys - have no idea why they got rid of that song seeing as it wasn't that old had and was still on the R&R chart. Anyway, in April, another chart purge was done, one at the beginning of the month, the other at the end. In each case, three songs that had been on for at least 30 weeks were dropped. The strange thing is, "Taking You Home" by Don Henley seemed to be exempt from these purges, as it stuck around even though it was older than many of the songs that had been dropped.
In August, the chart reverted back to R&R. I had mixed feelings about that. While I was glad they were using a published chart, I sort of missed hearing songs that I would otherwise had missed (as pretty much everything that peaked below #15 on the weird chart never made the R&R Top 20.)
Anyhow, yeah, we'll see what pans out in the future. But it's cool that they eliminated a barrage of recurrent songs.

[Alfred]

Sorry looks like its just random purging...only one debut on this week chart "Hush" by LL Cool J....Dropping off is Franz Ferdinand "Take Me Out"....Still a pretty slow moving bunch...Here's the complete rundown..

Show Date: November 13-14, 2004
Last Week’s #1: ”BREAKAWAY” – Kelly Clarkson
#40 “HUSH” – LL Cool J
#39 “RUMORS” – Lindsey Lohan
#38 “LOCKED UP” - Akon
#37 “TILT YA HEAD BACK” – Nelly f. Christina Aguilera
#36 “WHATEVER YOU WANT” – Christina Milian f. Joe Budden
#35 “TANGLED UP IN ME” – Skye Sweetnam
#34 “OYE MI CANTO” – N.O.R.E.
#33 “BREAKING THE HABIT” – Linkin Park
#32 “SOMEBODY TOLD ME” – The Killers
#31 “NASTY GIRL” - Nitty
Extra: “DOO WOP (THAT THING)” – Lauryn Hill
#30 “SLOW MOTION” - Juvenile
#29 “MY PREROGATIVE” – Britney Spears
#28 “PREDICTABLE” – Good Charlotte
#27 “I LIKE THAT” – Houston f. Chingy & Nate Dogg
#26 “WHAT YOU WAITING FOR?” – Gwen Stefani
#25 “WHITE HOUSES” – Vanessa Carlton
#24 “IF I AIN’T GOT YOU” – Alicia Keys
#23 “I DON’T WANNA BE” – Gavin DeGraw
#22 “WELCOME TO MY LIFE” – Simple Plan
#21 “LEAVE (GET OUT)” – JoJo
#20 “SUNSHINE” – Lil Flip f. Leah
#19 “LEAN BACK” - Terror Squad f. Fat Joe & Remmy
#18 “PIECES OF ME” – Ashlee Simpson
#17 “LET’S GO” – Trick Daddy f. Twista and Lil John
#16 “SHADOW” – Ashlee Simpson
#15 “DARE YOU TO MOVE” - Switchfoot
#14 “BABY IT’S YOU” – JoJo f. Bow Wow
#13 “BROKEN” – Seether f. Amy Lee
#12 “ONE THING” – Finger Eleven
#11 “LET’S GET IT STARTED” – Black Eyed Peas
#10 “1985” – Bowling for Soup
#9 “JUST LOSE IT” - Eminem
#8 “MY BOO” - Usher f. Alicia Keyes
Out Of The Box: “BEAUTIFUL SOUL” - Jesse McCartney
#7 “LOSE MY BREATH” – Destiny’s Child
EXT: “JUMPIN JUMPIN” – Destiny’s Child
#6 “ON THE WAY DOWN” – Ryan Cabrera
#5 “MY HAPPY ENDING” – Avril Lavigne
#4 “SHE WILL BE LOVED” – Maroon 5
#3 “GOODIES” – Ciara f. Petey Pablo
#2 “BREAKAWAY” – Kelly Clarkson
#1 “OVER AND OVER” – Nelly f. Tim McGraw

[Hervard]

Hey hey, you forgot to write "SPOILER ALERT!!" before the chart.