The first charts of 2019

It has become a habit. I mean checking out the hit charts on the first week of the year. This one was no different. The first thing I did as I got ready to get into my writing chores was to check out the hit charts.

Nothing new happening out here. The idols from Korea are still selling a lot. This Band and December Avenue are still the newcomers who gave pop idols a big run for their money with surprising big sellers. Ben&Ben is still around while Juan Karlos and IV of Spades need to sit down to find out how they can come up with follow-up hits. Remember, Iñigo Pascual? The time might run out soon.

But is an all-new, and also old game taking place in the Billboard hit lists in the U.S. of A? Ariana Grande remains No. 1 with Thank U Next among the singles and 21 Savage is the star of the moment among the album sellers.

Everything else though seems like a field awash with runaway horses enjoying their turn at the charts for the first time after a long, long time. I mean really long, think hit songs from 60 or even 70 years ago and names like Frank Sinatra and Brenda Lee sharing the list with Cardi B and Post Malone.

The recordings are Christmas releases that are reissued for a few weeks every year. These songs do sell but not in quantities that would earn them spaces in the Hot 100, except perhaps for Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, which is now the biggest selling Christmas track of all time. But Burl Ives’ It’s A Holly Jolly Christmas? There is something very strange happening in the music biz. And the answer is streaming.

Those tunes are always around on Christmastime. In years past though, those interested had to wait for them to come on the radio or to listen to them through friends who own copies, before they decide to get their own. Not anymore.

Let us say, I am checking out the hit charts for new releases and I see Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms. I do not have to go to the radio or ask somebody if he has heard the tune. I go to a streaming site online, then search for Jingle Bell Rock. With one click, I am able to listen to the song and the recording notches a sale. And so on and so on.

Apparently, a lot of people did the same thing these past weeks and that is the reason why old recordings have entered the charts. I do not really blame them for enjoying the songs. These are really recordings of a timeless quality. They had been around for a while. People just did not have the time to make the effort to buy copies to find out how they sound.

But nowadays, with Spotify or Apple just a click away at a very small cost and with no storage problem to worry about, who is going to stop me from listening to Brenda Lee or Perry Como? Admit it, they do provide a respite as the rappers in the charts are beginning to sound alike anyway.

What would be interesting to find out is if these Christmas sales would generate interest in other old recordings like Lee’s Losing You or Williams’ Moon River. We will find out soon.

Here now are the Top 20 tunes of first Hot 100 chart of 2019: Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande; Without Me by Halsey; All I Want For Christmas Is You by Carey; Sicko Mode by Travis Scott; Sunflower from Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse by Post Malone and Swae Lee; High Hopes by Panic At The Disco; Happier by Marshmello & Bastille; Jingle Bell Rock by Helms; Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Lee; A Holly Jolly Christmas by Ives.

The Christmas Song by Nat Cole; Drip Too Hard by Lil Baby & Gunna; It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year by Andy Williams; Girls Like You by Maroon V & Cardi B; ZEZE by Kodak Black, Travis Scott & Offset; Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry; Mo Bamba by Sheck West; Wake Up In The Sky by Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars & Kodak Black; Money by Cardi B and Let It Snow, Let It Snow by Dean Martin.

The Top 20 albums are: I Am I Was by 21 Savage; Hoodie SZN A Boogie Wit da Hoodie; Christmas by Michael Bublé; A Star Is Born Soundtrack by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper; The Greatest Showman soundtrack by Hugh Jackman; Championship by Meek Mill; The Christmas Song by Nat Cole; Merry Christmas by Mariah Carey; Dying To Live by Kodak Black; ASTROWORLD by Travis Scott.

Beerbongs & bentleys by Post Malone; A Christmas Album For You by Various Artists; Spider-man Into The Spider-verse, Soundtrack; Scorpion by Drake; Realer by Youngboy Never Broke Again; Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen; A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi; Ultimate Christmas by Sinatra; Christmas Classics by Bing Crosby; and Sweetener by Grande.