SALES BAROMETER All figures percentages George Michael beats Two Tribes by o whisper Aug 84/Jul 84 Aug 84/Aug 83 Year-to-date 1984/1983 Combined ■t-15 + 16 -5 7 inch SINGLES +21 + 10 -13 12-inch + 8 + 30 + 24 Combined +9 + 29 + 10 LP line CD) ALBUMS + 4 + 9 Frankie: how the mighty fell Cassette + 19 + 74 +39 MARKET SHARE BAROMETER All figures percentages Ycar-to-date Aug 84 Jul 84 Aug 83 1984 1983 7-incli SINGLES 67 64 70 70 77 IT WAS an act of sweet re- paigns generate sales not only 12-incli 33 36 30 30 23 venge that the record which Chart for the record being advertised, but also for other albums in the LP (mc CO) ALBUMS 60 63 70 66 73 finally relieved Two Tribes of Cassette 40 37 30 34 27 the number one slot in oomraentary same series. August was So it has proved with Now BPI AWARDS That's What I Call Music, which, Year-to-datc by George Michael of Wham! BY ALAN JONES in August, captured 10 per cent of Aug 84 Aug 83 1984 1983 Nine weeks earlier, Whaml's the total market for the cus- Platinum — 2 ago, or July. As a result, the year- Gold SINGLES 2 1 9 12 first number one, Wake Me to-date deficit was whittled down tomised EMI/Virgin label, enough Silver 5 2 43 43 Up Before You Go Go, was to five per cent. to make it market leader, well unceremoniously bundled Thematically, singles ahead of CBS. It also contributed Plaimum 1 1 15 16 aside — by Two Tribes. to maintaining EMI's traditional Gold ALBUMS 5 7 36 59 proved very popular In August, superiority in the distribution Silver 5 8 60 66 Careless Whisper has already as wave after wave of dancefloor favourites repeated their success stakes, where it had a 31.3 per Source: Gallup/BPI, compulation and mterpretulion: Alan Jones sold more copies than any cent share of the total trade. Wham! single, shifting 750,000 in the sales chart. The latest Now That's What I units inside five weeks and earn- Billboard magazine observed Call Music compilation aside, ing 21-year-old Michael the that, on August 18, all of its top long-established albums con- distinction of being the first act to five singles were by black, disco- top the charts both as a soloist orientated acts — the first time tinued to dominate in August, and as a member of a group/duo that's happened in over a decade. with sales continuing at high in the same calendar year. Care- It's unlikely to be repeated levels. less Whisper was also the main here, but the trend towards disco After a series of good reports, reason why Epic was able to music has, in the last few LP sales for the year to date have reclaim the title of top singles months, seen black Americans at last achieved parity with 1983 ytUoec L_ label from ZTT with a 13 per cent capture an impressive slice of the levels and, with cassettes up 39 market share. British singles chart, while for all per cent, albums as a whole are In third place was tiny indie their current success, they still running 10 per cent ahead of last Flair Records, which captured 5.5 face enormous problems in year. 1 yi STYLE COUNCIL: Far East & Far Out PolyGram per cent of the market on the getting long-term mainstream For last month alone, cassette 2 6 BREAKDANCE, You Can Do It! K-tel strength of 's suddenly acceptance at home. sales rose by 74 per cent over hot Agadoo, which, after a very Consider the facts. Music 1983 an captured fully 40 per cent 3 ASIA: In Asia Vestron slow start has now sold over Week's Top 100 singles for 1 of the market. 4 3 MICHAEL JACKSON: Thriller... Vestron 600,000 copies. September contained records by One of the contributory factors With just three hits in five 32 American acts. in the rise of the cassette as an 5 8 BOB MARLEY/THE WAITERS: Legend Island years. Black Lace are a long way Of these, only four (Laura album carrier has been the 6 7 HOWARD JONES: Like To Get To Know... Warner from achieving the consistency of Branigan, Divine, Cyndi Lauper success of the budget ranges DAVID BOWIE: Serious Moonlight Media Lionel Richie, Howard Jones and and Y&T) are white. Yet the marketed by Pickwick, on the 7 2 Nik Kershaw, all of whom have American census of 1980 re- Spot, Ditto and Hallmark labels, 8 14 HAWKWIND: Night Of The Hawks Jettisoundz recently plucked four hit singles vealed that whites outnumber Music For Pleasure and Chevron, 9 4 010; Live In Concert PolyGram from platinum albums. blacks by seven to one. It can the MSD subsidiary. Lifting more than three singles therefore be deduced that black The latest entrant into the 10 12 NEIL DIAMOND; Love At The Greek Vestron from a hit album was rarely Americans are at least for the budget cassette arena is K-tel 11 _ THE ARMS CONCERT: Part II Videoform attergpted until recently, but four present, 49 times as likely to have which launched its Goldmasters U2: Live "Under A Blood Red Sky" Virgin now appears to be the going rate a British hit as their white coun- range in August, and immedi- 12 5 — and five is no longer excep- terparts — a startling disparity ately secured a 9.2 per cent share 13 — LATRAVIATA VideoSpace tional, though it is inadvisable as which has a similar, but less pro- of the market. With a £500,000 14 11 M. SCHENCKER GROUP: Rock Will.. Hendring WEA found out earlier this year. nounced parallel among indi- campaign to support the initial After taking a quartet of major genous British hitmakers all of batch of 30 releases due to run 15 — LET S BREAK! Warner hits from George Benson's which makes the GLC claim that until Christmas, K-lel will cer- 16 18 DURAN DURAN PMI double platinum In Your Eyes black music is discriminated tainly be pressing traditional CULTURE CLUB: Kiss Across The Ocean Virgin album they tried to get a fifth with against difficult to swallow. market leaders Pickwick (28.2 per 17 27 Late At Night, only to see it per- In reality, there's more of a cent of the budget cassette 18 20 STREETS OF FIRE: A Musical Fantasy C1C form a spectacular bellyflop. It case to be made for heavy rock market in August) and Music For 19 13 NOW, That's What 1 Call Music Video II Virgin/PMI was well up to the standard of which is practically ignored on Pleasure (19.7 per cent). previous singles, so it must be prime time radio shows (unlike It is to be hoped that the K-tel 20 15 DAVID BOWIE: Serious Moonlight Videoform assumed that there was simply black music) and which is sim- campaign will generate extra 21 15 THE ARM5 CONCERT: Part 1 Videoform no one left to buy it. ilarly ghettoised in terms of sales and not simply reshape the — Since Agadoo and Careless venues. market It would be a great pity if 22 WHITES1.AKE: Live! PMI Whisper are selling pre- New entries to the album chart the good work other budget 23 10 THE BEATLES: A Hard Day's Night Vestron dominantly on 7-inch, and Stevie were unusually rare in August, labels do in making genuine 24 26 DIRE STRAITS: Alchemy Live PolyGram Wonder's I Just Called To Say I but Now That's What I Call Music oldies available at bargain prices Love You was available only in III has repealed the success of the was endangered by K-lel's less 25 21 QUEEN; Greatest Flix PMI the smaller format during the first two albums in the NTWICM vital recordings. 26 — THE CULT: Dreamtime... Beggars Banquet period surveyed, it's not series by rocketing to number Looking further ahead, autumn altogether surprising that the 12- one. Not since Motown Chart- should see album sales moving 27 25 THE C0MPLEAT BEATLES MGM/UA inch single's share of the market busters Volumes 3, 4 and 5 in ahead as a flurry of major re- 28 — ELVIS PRESLEY: That's The Way It Is MGM/UA actually dropped in August, for 1970/1 have three consecutive leases hit the shops. Watch out 29 19 MOTORHEAD: Live In Toronto Avatar the first time this year. Even so, it compilations from the same label for new albums from Stevie managed to account for nearly reached top position. Wonder, Paul McCartney, Diana 30 THE OTHER SIDE OF NASHVILLE MGM/UA one sale in every three. The most obvious benefit to be Ross, David Bowie, U2, UB40, Overall, singles sales in August reaped from giving a series of Motorhead, Marc Almond, Aztec were running at a level 16 per compilations the same overall Camera, Barry Gibb and Frankie cent higher than either a year title is that successive TV cam- Goes to Hollywood.

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