[mplpost] CANADIAN'S AIRPLAY 2001 - part 1
Vic Bell
vicbell@telusplanet.net
Wed Jan 9 00:39:24 2002
Hi everyone,
This is the first of three postings examining airplay received by
Canadian folk performers in 2001. This posting provides some
background to the history, the current recording of airplay, and my
own methodology, and includes some long-term charts and records. The
next will provide some stats on year 2001 monthly airplay tallies and
the final report will compare Harry Bryan's and Richard Gillmann's
reports and offer tallies of the most popular Canadian songs and
albums. I'll dole these out one per day so as not to overwealm too
much.
- - - - -
Newcomers to the list should understand that I have been compiling
monthly Canadian "top 10" airplay reports from Folkdj-l playlists
since March 1996. From Mar. 96 to the end of Dec. 98 I compiled and
submitted monthly reports to Folkdj-l, Maplepost and Cdnfolk-l.
Harry Bryan now compiles and submits weekly charts of Canadian
performer's airplay from playlists posted to Folkdj-l. Harry scans
all non-Canadian playlists by eye to make up his lists and he tracks
the number of consecutive weeks performers show up on his charts.
Although I no longer post the results month by month, I have
continued to use Harry's reports to make up my monthly surveys.
Richard Gillmann has created a couple of programs to scan ALL
Folkdj-l playlists although due to playlist formatting
irregularities, he estimates he actually gets information from about
60% of all playlists submitted. His monthly charts are ranked by the
most airplay for individual albums, plus ranked airplay tallies for
the individual songs on those albums. Richard provided year-end
summaries which listed the 250 most popular albums, the 55 most
popular songs and a chart of the 250 most popular artists. Richard
Gillmann's complete lists and summaries can be found online at
<http://folkradio.org>.
Harry and Richard have consented to my using their posted playlist
information for the reports to follow, for which I offer a
well-deserved tip of the hat for all their labour.
- - - - -
My surveys have followed the format of a "top 10 list" ranking those
Canadian acts that got the most monthly airplay on non-Canadian
playlists. The following example shows how I compile airplay month
by month.
The number on the left gives the top 10 ranking based on total
airplay, ties occur fairly often. "Total Plays" gives the number of
airplays the performer got that month. The number under "DEC" gives
the ranking for that act the previous month. "First" under that
category notes the first time an act has appeared on a top ten list
since its inception in March '96. The * under "This Year" shows the
number of months in 2001 the act has made the list. "Consecutive"
lists the number of consecutive months the act has made the list. To
date, Stan Rogers has spent 38 consecutive months on the monthly top
ten lists.
JANUARY TOTAL PLAYS DEC THIS YEAR
CONSECUTIVE
1. Joni Mitchell 46 7 * 2
2. Marie-Lynn Hammond 40 6 * 2
3. Garnet Rogers 35 * 1
4. Scruj MacDuhk 34 5 * 3
5. Loreena McKennitt 30 1 * 5
6. Aengus Finnan 28 4 * 4
7. Stan Rogers 26 3 * 27
8. James Keelaghan 24 * 1
9. Neil Young 23 * 1
10. Bruce Cockburn 22 2 * 2
April Verch 22 first * 1
- - - - -
There is a shifting group of popular artists who can be expected to
show up fairly regularly on the top 10. Here's the current "longterm
top 10" based on 70 months of tracking airplay on Folkdj-l: There
were no additions to the updated rankings this year. Ferron and
Eileen McGann were on the list last year and with ties being
eliminated, got moved out this year.
Longterm Top 10: MONTHS
1. Stan Rogers: 67
2. James Keelaghan: 63
3. Joni Mitchell: 62
4. Bruce Cockburn: 60
5. Fred Eaglesmith: 55
6. Garnet Rogers: 48
7. Natalie MacMaster: 38
8. Kate & Anna McGarrigle: 36
9. Loreena McKennitt: 35
10. Lynn Miles: 33
- - - - -
If this group of performers consistently filled the list there would
be little point in recording it. While it's interesting to note the
ongoing popularity of these acts, of greater interest to me are the
ones who break into the lists now and then or for the first time.
I've learned about, and eventually hired, some very good musicians in
this way.
Newcomers to the top ten lists this year, in order of appearance are:
April Verch
Oh Susanna
The Sadies
Bob Evans
Matter of Heart Cast
Mike Stevens
Beyond The Pale
Rick Scott
Be Good Tanyas
Joe Cormier
- - - - -
Longterm monthly airplay records are as follows:
Stan Rogers: 140 Dec. 99
Fred Eaglesmith 120 May 01
Bruce Cockburn 81 Dec. 01
Al Grierson 81 Nov. 00
Jory Nash 78 Mar. 00
James Keelaghan: 71 Apr. 99
Fred Eaglesmith 67 Nov. 97
Bruce Cockburn: 63 May 98
James Keelaghan: 62 June 99
Natalie MacMaster 60 Apr. 00
Garnet Rogers: 60 Aug. 99
- - - - -
To be continued....
cheers, Vic
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