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sharing our old music charts...?

Thanks to ohnoitisnathan for his recent post with some old ARIA & Countdown charts. This inspired me to suggest a possible collaboration (for all those interested) in which we could share and perhaps create some kind of "database" of our old music charts ?

I personally have a lot of old 3XY charts from the '70s and a sprinkling of ARIA & Countdown charts from the '80s.

There were also charts in Juke & RAM of course and no doubt countless others. It could be fun and very interesting.

Would anyone be interested in this...and if so, any ideas of the most suitable site we could use to construct a basic archive ? Something that would enable us to create directories for different years and different kinds of charts within each year ? Very basic, simple & user-friendly.

If all those who are interested are given the login details, we could all just upload when we have time ? Hopefully not too time consuming or complicated...just some fun and an interesting resource



Update: Have just been having a look around Google Docs and it looks like it could be useful for something like this. You can create folders and sub-folders there...still checking it out.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Sounds like a good idea. I have a lot of late 80's local Smash Hits magazines that have charts in them and plenty of 90's ones as well (not sure how later or early you want).

Always like looking at charts from certain eras - very interesting.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Patrick
Sounds like a good idea. I have a lot of late 80's local Smash Hits magazines that have charts in them and plenty of 90's ones as well (not sure how later or early you want).

Always like looking at charts from certain eras - very interesting.


Thanks for the reply Patrick. Ive been playing around with something called "Google drive" this afternoon and I'm very impressed with it. I think it could be a really good tool for this project and yes, your Aussie Smash Hits mags from the '80s would be truly valuable. I personally want to focus on '70s & '80s charts but that doesn't mean someone else couldn't take the initiative for later (or earlier charts) too :)

Patrick I will contact you shortly...and I will have an update on this soon. Very happy with what I've been able to find in terms of a resource we can use for this

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Hi, I have a ton of original ARIA top 50 charts from July 1987 onwards, and could scan some in. I would love to get all the countdown charts pre July 1987, original scans, that would be awesome to check out. Hopefully if we can pool all our resources, this would be splended. To get some idea, can we sort of have some consistancy if we are going to do scans, like to scan at a minimal dots per inch? I've seen some chart scans on the internet, and dot res is so low one would have a hard time trying to read the song titles.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Have always been interested in charts so I would be happy to support this project if someone was to run with it.

Of the Countdown/Aria charts I have nearly 100 of them (plus numerous doubles) dated between July 17 1983 to January 12 1986.

I have a complete set of 3XY charts from Dec 1978 to Dec 1988. The few originals that I am missing I have the reprints from The Age where they were also published each week in the Green Guide up to 1984 and then in The Sun from 1984 onwards. I even have a few obscure ones like in 1976 when it doubled as an Iron-On.
 photo 19763xychart_zpseafaca98.jpg

With the EON FM charts I also have a fair run of them plus I used to cut them out of The Age Green Guide as well each week (after they replaced the 3XY charts in 1984)

I can help out with Ram and Juke to a fair extent. I have most of the RAM issues between 1975 and 1987 except for a period from late 1982 to mid 1984 where I only have 18 issues between No.s 195 and 247. For Juke I would have about three-quarters of the issues between 1979 and 1992 (from issue 193 onwards.

RAM Issue No. 1 + 1st RAM chart
 photo rammag1_zpsaeab5358.jpg
 photo rammag1chart_zpsab005ad0.jpg

I also have a few lesser Australian music papers such as Roadrunner, Vox and EonExtra from the late 70's to early 80's which have charts in them.

Then there are also obscure independent released charts such as this one from The Mighty Music Machine shops.
 photo independentchart1985_zps8c0ee6bb.jpg

Would be happy to help out if required but as it is time consuming don't know how much.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Many thanks to all of you for your replies and enthusiasm...all contributions would be very welcomed, valued and appreciated.

Have a look at the link below...this is what I've managed to do this afternoon. Click on 1986 for an example of the potential. I'm interested in thoughts and feedback and yes, I agree, we can only do as much as we can do with time restraints, same applies to me 100%

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

A data base of Chart history would be FLAWLESS!

YES YES YES!!!

Your latest scans Guru are HEAVENLY!!!

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke
Many thanks to all of you for your replies and enthusiasm...all contributions would be very welcomed, valued and appreciated.

Have a look at the link below...this is what I've managed to do this afternoon. Click on 1986 for an example of the potential. I'm interested in thoughts and feedback and yes, I agree, we can only do as much as we can do with time restraints, same applies to me 100%

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit



Thanks, was able to download the charts easily, that ARIA chart from December 1986 bought back many good memories. Many thanks.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM
Hi, I have a ton of original ARIA top 50 charts from July 1987 onwards, and could scan some in. I would love to get all the countdown charts pre July 1987, original scans, that would be awesome to check out. Hopefully if we can pool all our resources, this would be splended. To get some idea, can we sort of have some consistancy if we are going to do scans, like to scan at a minimal dots per inch? I've seen some chart scans on the internet, and dot res is so low one would have a hard time trying to read the song titles.


Hi Mark...yes I agree 100% about being able to actually read the charts clearly, otherwise there's no point. I'll do some experimenting with scanning and resolution etc and try to come up with an "ideal" setting for scans. I also think it's important that we have consistancy with naming the files too, because (the file names) are displayed in the preview pane and are an important part of the user experience.

It took me a couple of hours to get a handle on the google site this afternoon, it's a bit fiddly with navigation, creating folders and moving files around etc. I don't know what the best option is...if we all have the username/password (all those who have charts to contribute) and upload them individually, with I guess the potential risk of confusion or inadvertant errors being made, or if everyone just emails their scans to me and I can upload them into the folders ongoing, as I have time.

Thoughts ?

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Guru Bob
Have always been interested in charts so I would be happy to support this project if someone was to run with it.


Thans a million for these examples Guru Bob...amazing ! I took the liberty of uploading them into the appropriate folders already (I hope that's ok). When you get a chance, could you please tell me the full date of the 3XY iron-on one, as it's cut off from the edge of the scan, and I'll update it.

Please have a look at what I've done so far when you can...feedback welcome.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

A great idea! Would love to contribute,but lost all my old charts years ago I collected all the local(bris) stereo/radio 10 charts from the early-mid 80's.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

I've got Excel spreadsheets of the typed ARIA top 50 singles (April 1983-December 1989) and top 100 singles (January 1990 onwards). I have sporadic printed ARIA charts from 1983 onwards, and a complete set of printed ARIA charts from August 1992-Oct 1998. I might try scanning a few more when I can, but it's on a list of already umpteen things to do

I've also got a set of photocopied ARIA top 100 singles & albums charts I photocopied from the ARIA reports kept by the State Library of Victoria, covering from about Jan 1994 to some time in 1999.

My only suggestion, Luke would be to have a consistent way of labeling the files, so e.g. you can easily find a particular week. Using the year-month-day format might be easiest for sorting the charts chronologically (e.g. 1986-12-21).

PS - there have been some great unofficial UK chart archives I've found online over the years; however, 2 of the 3 major sources I use for UK charts have received directives from the "Official Chart Company" (aka the Fun Police) to remove their weekly charts. One site, which covered the full top 100 for most of the 80s (the UK otherwise only publishes an 'official' top 75) has resorted to listing only chart peaks and the number of weeks in the chart. The other site still has the week by week chart runs, but only for the top 75.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Nathan is this the site your talking about?
http://www.chartstats.com/
An excellent site..
There's another one called everyhit.com that doesn't seem to work anymore I actually found the chartstats site when everyhit went on the fritz & it's a much better site with picture sleeves etc and not just chart peaks.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

^ Yep, chartstats used to have the week-by-week full charts. They now have just chart peaks and weeks on the chart, which is better than nothing, but it was so much better before.

I remember everyhit, haven't looked it up for a few years.

The other UK chart sites I use are:

Polyhex.com - singles chart archive searchable by artist/song title, and includes peak position and top 75 chart run:
http://www.polyhex.com/music/chartruns/chartruns.php

Chart Log UK - contains single/albums chart peaks and weeks in chart. Top 100 for 1994, Top 200 or 250 thereafter:
http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_00.HTM


Some other chart sites I use are:

ARIA top 50 singles/albums archive dating back to June 1988 (NB: doesn't contain chart info before this, so e.g. John Farnham's 'Whispering Jack' album peaked at #9 according to this archive )
http://australian-charts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s

It also contains New Zealand, France, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden & Norway info, although not all of those charts cover all years.


There's also the UKMIX chart forum, which has some quite useful threads if you're a chart freak, like this one:

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13100

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Gary
when everyhit went on the fritz & it's a much better site with picture sleeves etc and not just chart peaks.


Are you sure?
http://www.everyhit.com/retros/index.php?page=yindex&Y=1984

abbaluke
I also think it's important that we have consistancy with naming the files too, because (the file names) are displayed in the preview pane and are an important part of the user experience.


Luke, here is the setup of my directory, note the start of each file name has the four digits of the year first, two digits for the month, and another two for the date. Afterwards I name the chart source - the length of the chart (top 50 or 100), and then whether it is a singles or albums charts. I've already nicked a few from this site, but I got the 1987 ones already a few weeks ago. At present I have all my ARIA charts in one directory for simplicity and ease of retrieval.

19830717 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19830724 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19840401 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19861221 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870705 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870712 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870712 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.jpg
19870719 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870726 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870802 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870802 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.jpg
19870809 - ARIA Top 50 Albums chart.bmp
19870809 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870816 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870823 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870830 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870906 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19870927 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871004 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871011 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871018 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871025 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871101 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871108 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871115 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871122 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871129 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp
19871220 - ARIA Top 50 Singles chart.bmp

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM
Are you sure?
http://www.everyhit.com/retros/index.php?page=yindex&Y=1984


You can still see the retro charts,it's the top 40 database that hasn't worked for awhile.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

ohnoitisnathan

There's also the UKMIX chart forum, which has some quite useful threads if you're a chart freak, like this one:

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13100


Thanks for the link,looks like a cool site.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke
Guru Bob
Have always been interested in charts so I would be happy to support this project if someone was to run with it.


Thanks a million for these examples Guru Bob...amazing ! I took the liberty of uploading them into the appropriate folders already (I hope that's ok). When you get a chance, could you please tell me the full date of the 3XY iron-on one, as it's cut off from the edge of the scan, and I'll update it.

Please have a look at what I've done so far when you can...feedback welcome.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit


Luke
Of course you can upload them, they're here to be shared.

Had a look at your handiwork and that seemed easy enough to navigate and it will obviously develop as it goes. It looks better when there is an actual chart reproduced rather than just a file but due to incomplete chart collections you may have to do a combination of both.

The reverse of the charts usually had band pictures etc which are also interesting, you may want to consider showing both sides of a chart

 photo 3xy1981_zps5e40e824.jpg
 photo 3xy1981b_zps03870e59.jpg
 photo 1984aria_zps6f63e3e1.jpg
 photo 1984ariab_zps734a5e7e.jpg

Sort of rushed the scans yesterday so I didn't pay too much attention to the cropped bit on the 3XY chart and that the RAM chart was on an angle.

I have re-scanned the 1976 chart - in fact I have 3 of the charts from that Rocktober and have done them all - Oct 8, 15 and 22.

 photo 3xy81076_zpscc6ab489.jpg
 photo 3xy151076_zpsf2effdca.jpg
 photo 3xy221076_zpse73700ed.jpg

Are EON FM (now MMM) of any interest? I have quite a few 1982-88.

 photo 1982eonchart_zps2551f569.jpg

Also found a 2SM chart from 1979 but it's the only one I have from them - don't find too many Sydney charts in Melbourne.

 photo 2smchart1979_zpse88a70da.jpg

The Countdown/ARIA charts were actually only issued from July 1983 to April 1984. After that they became just the ARIA chart but often had Countdown adverts on the back.

Having noticed Nathan mention that UK charts had been taken down I wonder if you can actually upload ARIA charts or whether they may ask you to take them down as well (or do it for you). ARIA are a big organisation which may want to protect their rights.

ARIA information is available elsewhere, as Nathan has spreadsheets, so perhaps it would be interesting to create a site based on state charts from around Australia - at least to avoid any possible issues with ARIA.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

O-M-G Guru! The EON FM Chart from 1982 is just SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!


I love the Pseudo Echo and Kim Wilde ones, I have them somewhere in this room!

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Jason 'The Moderator'
O-M-G Guru! The EON FM Chart from 1982 is just SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!


I love the Pseudo Echo and Kim Wilde ones, I have them somewhere in this room!


Ditto ! LOVE the EON FM charts and yes, I think they are definitely very valuable and will add to this archive...in fact I think just about any chart is valuable in the context of this exercise.

Again many thanks Guru Bob for these amazing scans I've added them to the google drive and also a few of my own 3XY ones from 1974-1976...which I'll keep doing as I have time.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Luke,

I can't see any charts in that link. The folders are empty. It says 20 items available. Which years have you put 20 into out of curiosity?

This is going to take you a fricking lonnnng time to do, I don't envy you!

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Jason 'The Moderator'
Luke,

I can't see any charts in that link. The folders are empty. It says 20 items available. Which years have you put 20 into out of curiosity?

This is going to take you a fricking lonnnng time to do, I don't envy you!


Yes, very early days right now. Have a look in 1976 and 1986 and you'll see some folders and previews. The actual images don't seem to be loading at the minute, getting a google error that says the problem is being fixed (they were working fine an hour ago).

Yes it's a potentially huge project, but I'm not "running it" as such. All I did was create a space for those who want to contribute, so they can upload. Anyone here who wants to upload scans can have the u/n & password...it's a collaborative exercise and it's not a "website" as such...it's just a central data base or storage space for us to share with each other and enjoy. All we can do is see how it goes

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke
Yes it's a potentially huge project, but I'm not "running it" as such. All I did was create a space for those who want to contribute, so they can upload. Anyone here who wants to upload scans can have the u/n & password...it's a collaborative exercise and it's not a "website" as such...it's just a central data base or storage space for us to share with each other and enjoy. All we can do is see how it goes


Luke, can you please send me the password and etc, I can all ready get the ball rolling with throwing up a heap of 1987 charts. send to radio2prfm (at) optusnet.com.au.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Guru Bob

 photo 1984ariab_zps734a5e7e.jpg


WOW! Guru, those charts look fantastic, particularly that May 1984 one, far out man, this was my days at high-school. Unfortunately mate the res has made it very hard to read out the song titles, just wondering if you could please scan these at a higher resolution. Many thanks.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM

WOW! Guru, those charts look fantastic, particularly that May 1984 one, far out man, this was my days at high-school. Unfortunately mate the res has made it very hard to read out the song titles, just wondering if you could please scan these at a higher resolution. Many thanks.


Mark, if you view it on our Google drive, you can see it in the full resolution and it's very easy to read. Just remember to click on the 100% button on the top

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke
Mark, if you view it on our Google drive, you can see it in the full resolution and it's very easy to read. Just remember to click on the 100% button on the top


Sorry luke mate, I don't want to be a pain, my eye sight is not all that good anymore. I looked for the magnifier in Photobucket to no avail. I then came back to this forum, then "right clicked" on the image and selected "View Image". This command within firefox takes me direct to the raw file (original file and size). I then copied it in to Photoshop and enlarged it that way, and the print is just - honestly - rather blurry, like pixating.

As I said, I don't know about anybody else, but even with glasses it is just horribly hard on the eyes to read, almost like reading through fog or smoke or something. Not trying to be picky, but just honest, and with that in mind, it would be a great shame for you guys to put so much effort in to such a project, only for it to be difficult to read.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM

Sorry luke mate, I don't want to be a pain


No need to apologise at all mate.

What I meant was, try looking at it in our Google drive that we've set up...not on the Photobucket page.

When you get to the Google drive page (link below) there is a little symbol up the top left area (just underneath where it says File Edit View Help) that says 100%. Click on the 100% symbol and it will display at full resolution. This will make it too big to fit on your screen, but you can move it around by clicking on it with your mouse and dragging it.

Here's a direct link to this specific chart in the Google drive:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsWHdOeTc0TGs0Vnc/edit

Hope that helps ?

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke


Here's a direct link to this specific chart in the Google drive:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsWHdOeTc0TGs0Vnc/edit

Hope that helps ?


Yep, beautiful, much better, thanks.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Liked the 20/5/84 Aria Chart. I looked on the archives page to see which Countdown episode/Top 10 it matched with. Def. not the 20/5 or 27/5, thought maybe 13/5, but I can't see that listed???

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

I looked around, and tried uploading, but couldn't find an upload button. I thought anyone could upload to google docs. So is this like an open access area, or do we need a password to throw stuff up?

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM
I looked around, and tried uploading, but couldn't find an upload button. I thought anyone could upload to google docs. So is this like an open access area, or do we need a password to throw stuff up?


Hi again Mark...yes, this is an account I have created specifically so we can upload & share charts. I will email you the u/n & password shortly, along with the others who have said they would like to contribute. There needs to be some degree of control over who can actually log in and edit stuff within the account, because you can not only upload, but also delete files. It would be awful if someone who didn't like what we are doing decided to go in and just delete everything

One thing though mate, we are limited with space there and I noticed most of your charts are in bitmap format, which are very big files, so could you please convert them down to jpg format before you upload them ?

Very glad you were better able to see the '84 chart you were after

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Interesting to see Split Enz at #1 singles/albums on the EON chart. IIRC SMIALB made it to #2 on the Countdown charts.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

ohnoitisnathan
I've got Excel spreadsheets of the typed ARIA top 50 singles (April 1983-December 1989) and top 100 singles (January 1990 onwards). I have sporadic printed ARIA charts from 1983 onwards, and a complete set of printed ARIA charts from August 1992-Oct 1998. I might try scanning a few more when I can, but it's on a list of already umpteen things to do

I've also got a set of photocopied ARIA top 100 singles & albums charts I photocopied from the ARIA reports kept by the State Library of Victoria, covering from about Jan 1994 to some time in 1999.

My only suggestion, Luke would be to have a consistent way of labeling the files, so e.g. you can easily find a particular week. Using the year-month-day format might be easiest for sorting the charts chronologically (e.g. 1986-12-21).



Thanks for your feedback ohnoitisnathan.

Regarding consistancy of naming the charts, I agree it would be good if they could all conform to the same format, but from what I've seen we probably all have our own preferred way to do it, and I'm not going to "yes that's ok" or "no that isn't" to anyone. All I ask is that the file name contains the name of the chart and the full date.

My preferred way of doing it is for example "3XY_12DEC76" or "3XY_12DEC76_front". I don't like having the date all numeric, because of the different orders that people put date/month/year, and that can just be confusing. I always put the month as alpha charaters so there can be no confusion, but that's just my preference and I'm not going to impose that on anyone.

The reality is, these are simply scans of old charts and if people want to change the way they're named, they can download them and do so on their own copies

Also, happy for you to include your Excel spreadsheets if you would like to, but would prefer them to be in a separate folder to the one that contains all the scans. The top folder is simply named "Oz music charts - scans", inside which are the year by year folders. You're welcome to create another folder at the top level titled "Oz music charts - spreadsheets" (or whatever you prefer).

Lastly, I need an email address or facebook page so I can send you the u/n & password

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke

Hi again Mark...yes, this is an account I have created specifically so we can upload & share charts. I will email you the u/n & password shortly, along with the others who have said they would like to contribute. There needs to be some degree of control over who can actually log in and edit stuff within the account, because you can not only upload, but also delete files. It would be awful if someone who didn't like what we are doing decided to go in and just delete everything


Absolutely agree, hence it be an idea to e-mail the password info off forum.

abbaluke
One thing though mate, we are limited with space there and I noticed most of your charts are in bitmap format, which are very big files, so could you please convert them down to jpg format before you upload them ?


Yes, I've just started converting some of my files to jpegs, I've just uploaded a few into 1987 - Aria Charts. Could someone just please check if I've done this right. Just see if they are viewable? I'm hoping they are visible to the rest of you.

abbaluke
Very glad you were better able to see the '84 chart you were after


Definitely looking forward to seeing more. I love a project like this were everyone can contribute what they have. I've always felt very guilty just asking someone for their entire portfolio of charts, as I vertually have nothing pre July 1987, and that's when all the best music was happening.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Mark from 2PR FM

Yes, I've just started converting some of my files to jpegs, I've just uploaded a few into 1987 - Aria Charts. Could someone just please check if I've done this right. Just see if they are viewable? I'm hoping they are visible to the rest of you.


Just had a quick look and they're awesome mate, great job Thanks so much for being enthusiastic about this and for contributing. I think this has great potential & is very exciting.

Here's the link again for everyone to check out what we've managed to do so far:

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B0Htd0DEUcUsbktBYzRvRmZYY00/edit



Re: sharing our old music charts...?

No worries, I'll get my folders out and scan some more when I find some time. :)

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

This should evolve into a website so that anyone can find these items and will allow for an even wider range of input which would then ensue from such a move.

At the moment it is just a folder in a thread on a forum which after a period of time will get lost. There may be quite a few people interested in this sort of information but they would never find it with a standard search.

What are the long term plans for this project?

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Hi all - a great concept which can easily be expanded to include a comprehensive database of weekly charts over a long period of time.

Although I have some assortment of stuff compared to some of you guys I probably do not have much - my main collecting was always the 3XY charts right until the end. 3XY started publishing a chart way back in 1971 - I have every chart from then until the end. The vast majority of charts prior to 1976 are photocopied direct from the state library archives - I did this way back in the 80s - so unfortunately these ones are only black & white. By around 1979 or 1980 I used to visit Brashs music stores every week and pick up 5-6 copies of the 3XY charts. In the early days of the 1970s there was a great assortment of very colourful charts available to pick up for free in your local music stores - stations like 3UZ etc in addition to 3XY. Of course the 3XY ones had a music artist printed on the other side for a time so some of them are now also probably collectable. The Rocktober ones were also very attractive as displayed by GuruBob in here.

Another great collectors item are those end-of-year 3XY Top 100 charts during the 1970s. They came as a large colourful full-sized poster - very hard to find I would imagine these days. These finished in 1978 - from then on a yearly Top 100 was published at the same size as a normal Top 40.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Did the 3XY charts have a major impact on the National Charts?

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Michael
Did the 3XY charts have a major impact on the National Charts?


The 3XY charts were a very big deal in Victoria for sure in the '70s...and I think the "sister station" was 2SM, and likewise, their chart was very highly regarded in N.S.W. In Melbourne, the 3XY chart was even printed every Thursday in the "Green Guide" in "The Age" newspaper.

I don't know if it was taken into account as far as a "National" chart was concerned...I don't even know who compiled the National charts back then and would be interested to know. I remember something called "The Kent report" which I *think* was a National chart ? All I remember is that the 3XY charts and the Countdown Top 10 were, in my mind, the be-all and end-all as far as I was concerned LOL

Also, the 3XY charts were exciting and collectible because they always a picture of a singer or group on the other side...I stuck the ABBA ones into my scrapbooks

Happy memories from a wonderful time

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Thanks. The National Charts are only of interest to me. If the 3XY charts are/were very similar to the National Charts, then they could be of interest.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Sorry Michael - for those of you living interstate of course the 3XY charts would not have much meaning. There were many similarities to the national charts of course, but (especially) during the 1970s each capital city was very remote to the others so charts varied a hell of a lot. If you lived in Melbourne, 3XY was the ONLY relevant chart until the FM stations etc came along. There was not much concept of a "national chart" in the early days.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

I'd be interested in assisting with this (when I get time)... I see there's the Dec 11, 1988 ARIA singles & albums chart up - was that from my scan? (I don't mind). If so, feel free to add the other scans I've done (if they're not already on it).

My scanner produces .bitmap files, so I have to upload them to a site such as flickr to convert to .jpg (just renaming the file doesn't seem to work for my scans).

I've added a contact email (you'll have to get rid of the NOSPAM bit though) if you trust me with the password

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Brett (2)
There was not much concept of a "national chart" in the early days.


Makes me wonder what the charts in RAM and Juke (which were national publications, and therefore presumed to represent national sales) were based on ? Same with Countdown's top 10. I'm sure there's someone around who has an extensive knowledge of all this...not me though

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

I had a bunch of 3XY (I think, from memory) charts photocopied from the late 70s/early 80's. Someone my mother worked with in a former job had a stack of them, and she kindly photocopied them for me one day. However, I'm 99% sure I've since thrown them out, after realising they weren't the 'real' (Kent Report/ARIA) chart.

I also remember picking up a Triple M printed top 40/50 chart in late 1989, though that too is since long gone.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

abbaluke

Makes me wonder what the charts in RAM and Juke (which were national publications, and therefore presumed to represent national sales) were based on ? Same with Countdown's top 10. I'm sure there's someone around who has an extensive knowledge of all this...not me though


I remember reading somewhere (so it must be true ) that the national chart was not necessarily based on sales (or a reliable enough estimate of sales) before 1982-3. I don't know where I saw that though, it might have been on the australian-charts.com forum or the UKmix one.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

The first music charts compiled were by 2UE around 1958, from this moment on, other radio stations started compiling charts like 2SM, 2UW, 2WL and so on. From about 1964 1965 ish David Kent was contracted by the Go-Set magazine to publish a national top 50, which was inside each weeks edition of the magazine. This continued up to and including August 1974 when Go-Set ceased its publication run. From this point Kent offered his charts as a service. At the same time the charts were expanded from the Top 50 singles to Top 100. From September 1974, the Kent Report was published weekly up to about 1999 or 2000 when it too ceased its run. Around June 1988 ARIA started doing it's own in-house research, which led to the ARIA and Kent charts being seperate entities by the middle of 1988. By today, ARIA is still going, and Kent is now just putting out various chart books. I think I'm pretty spot on with this, but won't be offended should I be corrected.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Sounds good to me.

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

It doesn't really matter which charts you followed, they were all a bit dodgy in relation to positions.

The Countdown charts were long questioned for their accuracy before they teamed with ARIA. It was surprising how often 2 songs tied for a position which allowed an 11th single to make their Top 10. It was nearly always an Australian act that scraped into 10th position or benefitted with a chart position in those instances, which was something Molly always pushed.

Often they would also be linked to a station's playlist for their weekly chart program.

 photo 3xychartad_zps2bf622fe.jpg

The 3XY and EON FM charts were the 2 main rivals in Melbourne in the mid 80's yet they were always different to each other - here is an example in November 1985 (Fox FM used to play the official Australian Top 40 on Saturday nights at this time but they didn't issue charts):-

 photo 3xynov291985_zps8b9208e2.jpg

 photo eonnov1985_zpsf8ff99a8.jpg

Then you also had the Record Company rigging issues - here's an article from Juke magazine Sept 20 1980 (I really need to scan things straighter)

 photo chartrigging_zps9ad25026.jpg

And a follow up from the Nov 15 1980 issue of Juke

 photo chartrigging2_zps55646759.jpg

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

March 7, 1981 ad is utterly and absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!

It's STUNNING

Re: sharing our old music charts...?

Jason 'The Moderator'
March 7, 1981 ad is utterly and absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!

It's STUNNING


Couldn't fit it all in, it was the full back page of a Juke mag.

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