Unbreak My Chart

This week we have thrown open the doors and welcomed guest contributors from around the world, to celebrate the spirit of Eurovision. We also have our first Unbreak My Chart guest mash-up, which is a remarkable thing. And there's a new No.1!

Tom Ewing's presentation, Making Your Mind Up: How Eurovision Caused Brexit, is here: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2017/05/making-your-mind-up-how-eurovision-caused-brexit/

Michael Hann's thoughts on poptimism are here: http://thequietus.com/articles/22389-rockism-poptimism

As ever, all of this week's notable tracks are in our rolling Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/2J6T6Ks6rQNNe9vUeu24ON

Laura's most-listened-to song this week is “Bedroom” by Mabel and Fraser's is “Bless this Acid House” by Kasabian.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

https://twitter.com/laurasnapes

https://twitter.com/csi_popmusic

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

This week! A brilliant email from a listener in Sweden, touching on the Norwegian Russ phenomenon and Britain's Eurovision apathy. Two brand new songs with an ~internationale~ flavour crashing into the Top 5, and a low-key battle between Harry Styles and Niall Horan's very good new singles.

Next week! We're doing a Eurovision special, and we want YOUR one-minute reviews of your favourite 2017 contender. If you want to join in, email us your suggestion at [email protected] (so we can avoid duplicates) and we'll send you instructions.

As ever, all of this week's notable tracks are in a Spotify playlist (it's now a rolling playlist rather than a new one each week, thanks to a very sensible listener suggestion): https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/2J6T6Ks6rQNNe9vUeu24ON

Fraser's most-listened-to song this week is “Told You So” by Paramore, and Laura's is “Don't Kill My Vibe” by Sigrid.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

After last week's riffle through the vinyl top 10, we take a quick gander at Record Store Day's effect on that chart, before moving into the real thing, and chatting about Modern Drug Music.

Here is the drug music article we discussed: washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/soft-smooth-and-steady-how-xanax-turned-american-music-into-pill-pop/2017/04/19/535a44de-1955-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html

And Hazel Cills' better piece on boredom in Lana Del Rey's music: http://www.mtv.com/news/3006550/lana-del-rey-queen-of-boredom/

As ever, all of this week's notable tracks are in a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/2J6T6Ks6rQNNe9vUeu24ON

Fraser's most-listened-to song this week is “You Gotta Not” by Little Mix, and Laura's is "Finders Keepers" by Mabel.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

In honour of Record Store Day, Laura and Fraser examine the vinyl singles chart, and find a whole new world. Also, Laura's been to a pop conference, and we ponder the troubling thought that No.1s no longer matter if you want to be a pop star.

Fraser's BBC Music thing about the king of pop is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/c3b6094f-f84a-4ee9-a86f-41f2a7a4a615

And here's the video of We Are The World, which Fraser erroneously described as Korean when it's from Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV4wTiP9fgI

As ever, all of this week's notable tracks are in a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/chartblog/playlist/0UVOUkhrb8sWeSp5I0LMp8

Fraser's most-listened-to song this week is “Lust for Life” by Lana Del Rey ft. The Weeknd, and Laura's is a karaoke classic.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

It’s Easter, Laura’s in the City of Angels, and the No.1 slot has undergone its own moment of death and rebirth. Everything is the same, and yet different.

After an examination of the charts from Australia and Brazil, we ask: does Harry Styles toppling Ed Sheeran signal a new era of dystopian pop?

As ever, all of this week's notable tracks are in a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/210ihYv6iP9jlebGxPdtqj

Fraser's most-listened-to song this week is “I Win” by Lethal Bizzle ft. Skepta, and Laura's is a surprise. Listen and find out.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

This week, the charts are pretty stagnant, so we're swizzing quickly through the Top 10 before getting on to this week's big story: the anointing of Harry Styles, Solo Artiste. We chat "Sign of the Times", and dive deep into the history of the post-boyband debut solo single to figure out where it fits on a scale of Bryan McFadden's "Real to Me" to George Michael's "Careless Whisper".

As ever, all of this week's tracks (bar Ed Sheeran, in a vain attempt to limit his streaming figures) are in a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/210ihYv6iP9jlebGxPdtqj

Fraser's most-streamed song this week is Kate Nash's "Call Me", and Laura's is "Shadows" by Future Islands featuring Debbie Harry.

You can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

We also thoroughly recommend that you pick up a copy of Sylvia Patterson's book I'm Not With the Band, and Tom Hibbert's collected Who the Hell...? columns.

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

In the week that Ed Sheeran has dominated the Top 20 with all 16 tracks from his new album ÷, we take a look at the Top 10, marvel at his achievement, prod the songs a bit and raise our palms to heaven asking, 'but what does it all mean?'

Laura's personal No.1 of the week is Liability by Lorde, and Fraser's is Wedding in Finistère by Jens Lekman.

As ever, you can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

Note: this was the first Unbreak My Chart. We've reuploaded it because it fell off the internet.

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

This week, as the UK triggers Article 50, we look back at the last chart before Britain joined the EU, and find some (possibly tenuous) parallels with the current Top 10. Is Anne-Marie's Ciao Adios just Roy C's Shotgun Wedding for 2017? Were the Osmonds the proto-Sheeran? Plus, an analysis of Young Thug's threat to poop on the competition without wiping his bottom afterwards. What's really at stake here? FIND OUT THIS WEEK!

For listeners on the move, our personal No.1s this week were: Tearjerker by Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales (Fraser) and Fontaine de Lait by Camille (Laura), but all the selections discussed this week (except for anything by Ed Sheeran) are on our Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/27gB2GO2D2Rt2KnbfYTSNN

We also discussed Tom Ewing's excellent theory of pop culture packages (http://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2017/03/datapanik-in-the-year-sheero/) and Michael Cragg on pop's crowded credits (https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/jan/11/pop-producers-rappers-credit-headliners).

As ever, you can contact us at [email protected], or individually on Twitter twitter.com/laurasnapes

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

This week, we find that Drake has arrived with a Sheeran-sized parcel of songs to invade the Top 40. What does it all mean? And is it a sign that the charts are broken?

For listeners on the move, our personal No.1s this week were: Cave by Future Islands (Fraser) and Slip Away by Perfume Genius (Laura), but all the selections discussed this week are on our Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/snapes/playlist/3Ooi6HHbbYY57xrJXHajFO

You can contact us at [email protected], or individually on Twitter twitter.com/laurasnapes

The podcast that tapes the Top 10 and then talks about it in school the next day, with Laura Snapes and Fraser McAlpine.

Week 2: The Sheeran Singularity still holds, so two weeks in, we're breaking the terms of our own podcast (a wise idea we're sure) and finding out what the charts would look like if Sheeran had to abide by regular singles rules. Our discoveries entail an early push for 2017's Song of the Summer, and further evidence that any A&R person worth their salt should be hanging out in Cornish beach bars if they want to unearth the next big thing.

As ever, you can email us on [email protected], or tweet us:

Our personal No.1s this week have been Makeba by Jain (Laura) and No Matter by Basic Tape (Fraser).

This week's further reading is the very good Michael Cragg on Charli XCX's frustrating path to pop stardom. Bye! https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/mar/14/charli-xcx-number-1-angel-mixtape-charlotte-aitchison