Back then, chart runs were the main way to tell a hit was a hit. Digital downloads and airplay were the natural paremeters to measure success.

 

With the streaming era, countless hits have had low peaks but ultimately stood the test of time such as billie's "lovely" which is her most streamed single ever surpassing her #1 breakthrough smash bad guy.

 

Do chart runs matter now?

 

 

If Dua is flopping then they don't 

Yes for everyone

 

except for Dua 

Chart run literally most irrevelant thing in streaming age. And Billboards stupid chart rules making it even worse. 

 

We can see many examples with Billie’s Lonely, Lady Gaga’s Bloody Mary and Always Remember Us This Way.  

 

They all peaked outside of Top40 but literally entire world know these songs. 

They’ve always mattered to determine the biggest songs of the year. 
 

However songs have lifespans after their chart runs. Like see thriller not being a #1 but being MJ’s biggest hit. Or Bruno’s Marry You being a digital smash.  Or Lose Yourself being one of the biggest digital songs despite not continuing to rechart. 
 

It’s just much more visible now than it used to be. 

And lets not forget Lana’s Discography as well. 

She one of the weakest girls when it comes to Billboard singles charts yet she’s literally one of the most streamed females every single day. 

32 minutes ago, naval23 said:

Back then, chart runs were the main way to tell a hit was a hit. Digital downloads and airplay were the natural paremeters to measure success.

 

With the streaming era, countless hits have had low peaks but ultimately stood the test of time such as billie's "lovely" which is her most streamed single ever surpassing her #1 breakthrough smash bad guy.

 

Do chart runs matter now?

 

 

Yes, now more than ever.

In the vinyl/cassette/cd eras, pre 1998 sales and radio mattered and then by late 90s they changed the formula to the disastrous 75% airplay and 25% sales so radio payola mattered.

in the digital era, peaks mattered.

In the streaming era, longevity matters. Many #1 songs are not hits...they are just #1 peaking songs thanks to the streaming era but many songs are true hits behind it's time on the charts thanks to the streaming era so it's a wash.

The headline "#1 on the Billboard chart" is bigger than the "#1 on Spotify". So I'd say they're still very important. 

 

However, the Hot 100 now is compiled of the least demand since the 2000s when airplay had that gigantic stake in chart points. Spotify is not pure demand since playlists, auto-play and even Spotify radio have taken a sort of similar role to the ones radio has. The longevity of songs nowadays is because of how streaming works. The era that showed the most pure demand was the digital era since it was all about how many fans you had and how much of your music they purchased.  

Edited February 14, 20242 yr by BrandNewBrandon

To be fair charts don’t matter at all

Yes, they matter and they always will, however, they’re not a valid argument to say a song it’s not a hit

songs like lovely by Billie and Khalid are clearly hits despite barely charting, and a song that peaked at #13 can go on to become a classic over an actual #1 hit 

Yes, charts matter. There should be an re-evaluation about how to measure a song's popularity. The #1 debuts are getting out of control and ridiculous.

Chart run will accumulate points for the artist's placement in Billboard's all time charts, so in that regard they do matter (if you're obsessed with achievements). But definitely it's not the end all be all to determine the strength of a song/single 

i think the term "hit" should have a longevity threshold, like 15 weeks or something.  Otherwise it's a "song".  A #1 song is not a hit if it falls off the chart in 10 weeks. 

Not really. This song never even charted but it has 720m streams on Spotify  

 

 

 

They matter but it's not the only measure of success in the streaming era.

 

A song can have a mid chart run and then have amazing recurrent stats surpassing a song that had a huge chartrun and was completely forgotten by the GP after

"Chart runs" = US

Spotify streams = Global

 

So yes i would say so

It matters to the labels and artist.