UK vs US

Do you typically prefer the US top singles chart, or the UK?

UK


US


Usual strong points of the US chart? Usual weak points? What about the UK chart? Do we see any noticeable constants in genres when it comes to either?

Think I only know the Daft Punk song.

Haha, well the fact that Get Lucky is in there twice obviously shows that we appreciate the extra couple of minutes you get on the album so much we buy it twice! Or that our country's so obsessed by it that those are mostly people buying one of them and not the other :P
But in all seriousness the album version actually is slightly better.
I'm actually amazed that 4/10 songs are shared between both top 10s. I thought the way people raved about One Direction "conquering America" that it was some completely alien universe :P

The position of "Can't Hold Us" in the charts suggests that the UK has moved on from that faster? (Although after Macklemore's showing at R1BW it's probably going up again). The fact that "Mirrors" is still in your top 10 backs me up a bit. I was going to comment on "Get Lucky" being at no.3 on both charts, but I'm in the UK and today it's No.4 :/

In answer to the initial question though, I think I probably prefer the UK singles chart. Simply because bands I love such as Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay and Muse generally find themselves higher up in our charts than yours (although interestingly Muse haven't had a No.1 single in the UK, just albums whereas "Uprising", "Resistance" and the awesome "Madness" have hit No.1 in the US and Panic Station hit No.2 there yet didn't even chart in the UK).

EDIT: Jesus, I need to stop writing essays.

Amore said:

In answer to the initial question though, I think I probably prefer the UK singles chart. Simply because bands I love such as Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay and Muse generally find themselves higher up in our charts than yours (although interestingly Muse haven't had a No.1 single in the UK, just albums whereas "Uprising", "Resistance" and the awesome "Madness" have hit No.1 in the US and Panic Station hit No.2 there yet didn't even chart in the UK).

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I generally tend to agree with this, and for some reason Coldplay has lost its foothold as of late in the American charts. I haven't seen a Coldplay song anywhere near the top (or the middle for that matter) in quite a long while. :/

★Hoenn★ said:

Probably the only one I've heard of is Let Her Go. And just rumours, too. So I guess I'll vote for the U.K.

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In general, do you prefer what the US has to offer on the top charts, or the UK?

While I feel like I would gravitate toward the UK side of things because I've got a lot more UK-based music than I do US, I don't think I would end up in a stable orbit around either since what tops the pop charts isn't usually what I listen to.

Aww man...I thought this was a thread about the actual countries being compared to each other...

I mean...aren't their top charts basically the same these days?

The one thing that always boggles my mind is that the Billboard charts place such a heavy emphasis on radio airplay to determine chart positions and not pure sales. While I don't really care about chart positions in either country, the fact that the US one can be severely influenced by the tastes of a few thousand radio DJs across America strikes me as a much more unfair system, especially for untested artists to break out in the chart.

Wow...I didn't know that. I mean yes, radio DJs influence what people are listening to...but that doesn't mean they like it. It would make much more sense to be purely on sales. And sometimes Radio DJs are lagging behind people - Gangnam Style fair took off before it got much airplay.

All these songs are terrible anyway. Metal and Rock is the way and America is better for that so i suppose the USA

Haha, your evidence? :) Some of the biggest rock bands in the world are British: The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Arctic Monkeys, Muse...
Foo Fighters are pretty awesome though.

The fact that Selena Gomez is even on the U.S. chart disqualifies it automatically.

+1 for Macklemore, Daft Punk, & Imagine Dragons though.

There's some good stuff on both, but the fact Waiting All Night is on the UK chart makes it much better. Just that one song, yes haha. What really pisses me off is that it's not available in the US store. Makes no sense to me.

I also don't see how two different versions of the same song are on the UK chart atm, but oh well. I don't know much of either list honestly. I don't really listen to the radio to know what's new and such. Out of both charts, I only know Come and Get It, Waiting All Night, Radioactive, and I Love It. I better get with it, lol.

The UK chart has more songs from more artists that I respect more than the ones in the US chart, so I'm going to go with that because I believe there's something to be said for that.

Wait, I do know more on that US chart. I'm...surprised a country song is in there since it's common that country is a least favorite among people, especially a song like that. It's...really southern. Like really southern. I don't see how that made it on there. And Mirrors is old news now. I don't see how that's still there, along with Just Give Me a Reason.

I can't speak for the UK chart, but the US chart doesn't...seem to change much. The Way should be in there anyway. Duh.

I also agree with Jon in how ridiculous the charts are picked, especially when you consider some songs get overplayed as hell. Exhibit A, Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Great song, but we didn't need to hear it every 5 minutes on the radio back in 2006. OKAY?? Even Thrift Shop suffers that, and I know it's not on either list here, but when I was listening to the radio earlier this year, I don't think I went a car ride without hearing it in all its censored glory. I'm kind of sick of it for that reason alone. If you're gonna have a song overplayed, at least let it be done at your own hand. Then you can't blame the radio.

I'm getting off track here...I still prefer the UK charts though, lol.

I'll go with UK since Jessie J is at least tolerable and I'm not a fan of Pink, Selena Gomez and Wiz Khalifa at all.

I'm very unfamiliar with the majority of the UK chart, with the exception of Jessie J, whom I cannot stand. I'd have to vote US solely for this reason.

I usually don't listen to anything that's on the charts.

Having grown up in England and moved to America when I was 20, I don't feel there is much difference between the two other than more British music in the UK chart.. so I'd say the UK chart just because there is slightly more variety. Otherwise England seems to be dominated by American media.. unless things have changed drastically since I've left :]

Since those two images you show are very similar in what songs are there, I guess that doesn't matter to me. I'm from the US but I tend to like music I take from the UK charts better for some reason. I listen to a mix of artists/songs from the US and UK, but I think the UK songs and artists stick with me more and I've only ever gotten very interested in the work of British artists.

I'd have to vote for the UK