19 not out… Social Media, Sport and the Music Charts

The dawn of the social media age and the advent of the download era of music has given rise in recent years to an influx of spontaneous re-issues and re-releases that have resulted in the music charts taking on something of a retro feel.

When downloads were initially incorporated into chart eligible sales, I remember Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles’ successful attempt to get Billie Piper (her of Dr. Who and Call Girl fame no less) back into the charts with her late 90s saccharine-overdosed Honey to the Bee tune. Twitter and Facebook have – quite famously with the “Rage Against The X Factor” campaign – added to this new dimension of people power influencing the music charts.

I am quite a purist when it comes to the charts and while my advancing years seem to have an equal and opposite effect on the number of songs I actually like on Now! That’s What I call Music compilation CDs, I tend to react with repugnance at chart manipulation. So it was with some surprise that I found myself smiling at the current attempt by Manchester United fans to get Paul Hardcastle’s 1985 classic “19” to Number 1 when I found out about it yesterday. (I should have added a caveat to that statement that I am not an MUFC supporter, but do rate the song highly.)

Sporting anthems frequenting the upper reaches of the charts is certainly nothing new, just go back to 1970 with the England World Cup song Back Home (number 1). With England national tunes, however, it does tap into a display of unified hope and national pride, take World in Motion, Three Lions and last year’s Shout (for England). Occasionally, a star turn by a footballer can help the cause yet further (John Barnes in 1990 arguably the most memorable), giving relevance to the song in question. The 1988 Liverpool anthem Anfield Rap (Red Machine in Full Effect) was another great example of involving the players themselves to sell to their supporting army, hence the top 3 placing (ironically behind Wet Wet Wet’s “With a Little Help from my Friends”).

Bearing that in mind, the involvement of players, or support of the club itself, is what will make or break social media campaigns nowadays. A recent attempt by Formula One fans to get Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain (and F1 theme tune) into the upper reaches of the charts, stalled after a fragmented campaign that lacked clarity. The song did penetrate the iTunes top 100 but it lacked the one-shot ‘go, go, go’ that will sell enough downloads in the one solitary week required to gain traction.

That is what the ‘19’ campaign needs if it is to succeed. As I write, it is in a still impressive 35th position on iTunes, but needs something more to deliver on its promise. The ‘19’, of course, refers to the number of league titles that MUFC will win if they secure a point away at Blackburn on Saturday but the lyrics themselves couldn’t be further removed from that achievement. If Paul Hardcastle needs the money, a celebratory rewrite with involvement from Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney would certainly do the trick. Then, I’d put money on 19 being a sure-fire number 1, only after I’d recoiled in abhorrence at the butchery carried out on such a classic tune.

About author

Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes 15 posts

Chris Hughes is Director of Communications at Sine Qua Non (SQN), a marketing and communications agency with a passion for sport and technology. @chrishughespr @techandsport

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