Hitsville’s Highs in Britain
CHARTING THE MOST POPULAR MOTOWN TRACKS
Now that the Motown documentary is playing in U.K. cinemas, it seems timely to review the nation’s most popular Motown tracks. How’s Hitsville holding up in 21st century Britain, and who’s bearing the weight?
Step forward, Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie.
Just a few weeks ago, “Superstition” was declared to be the most popular record in a Motown Top 100 published by Britain’s Official Charts Co. (OCC) and broadcast by BBC Radio 2. This ranking was compiled from audio streams on such primary digital services as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, and from permanent download sales.
Stevie, Lionel at the House Full of Toys benefit concert, 2016 (photo: Lester Cohen/Getty Images)
The OCC has published charts in the U.K. for decades, but it only began tracking digital downloads in recent years, and digital streaming even more recently, from 2014 onwards. Nonetheless, this Motown countdown is a good indication of which tracks from yesterday are still popular with music “consumers” today.
By an alternative measure, “All Night Long (All Night)” has been anointed as the most popular Motown song in the United Kingdom. That’s according to data gathered by PPL, the rights organisation which licenses recorded music for broadcast on radio and TV, and also in public spaces (shops, pubs, nightclubs and more). The latest PPL chart of the Top 60 Motown tracks is based on data from 2000 to June 2018.
Before going any further, it’s worth restating that these two charts are based on different information. The OCC list reflects what music fans in Britain have chosen to stream and download digitally, while the PPL ranking reflects what is broadcast over the airwaves. The savvy of radio and TV programmers is measured by various criteria – the number of people tuning into specific radio stations, for instance – but their choices are one step removed from those made directly by consumers.
‘SUPERSTITION’ IS THE WAY
The Official Charts’ Motown Top 100 can be found here. “Superstition” reigns supreme on the basis of 1.1 million chart sales, made up of 65 million audio streams and 460,000 downloads. The entire Top 100 comprises 7 million permanent downloads and 1.1 billion audio streams. Wonder is the most popular artist overall in the Top 100, with 20 charted tracks. Those accounted for almost 10 percent of total downloads (1.8 million) and just over 20 percent of all streams (254 million).
After Stevie, the most popular act according to OCC data is the Jackson 5, with 10 charted tracks, including two of Michael’s solo outings for Motown. The group’s “I Want You Back” is runner-up to “Superstition” on the overall Top 100, much as it was runner-up to Lee Marvin’s “Wand’rin’ Star” on the U.K. charts in March 1970. (By the way, a new podcast about “I Want You Back” on its 50th anniversary can be found here.)
Waistcoated Marvin in London, 1964
Following the Jacksons is Marvin Gaye, with nine charted tracks on the Top 100, including his duets with Tammi Terrell and Kim Weston. Moreover, Marvin & Tammi’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” is No. 3 on the OCC mirror of digital popularity – a record which did not chart at all in Britain when first released in 1967.
For some odd reason, the OCC singles out “Super Freak” by Rick James as “the highest charting song in the Top 100 that wasn’t originally released as a single in the U.K.” (it ranks at No. 46). But the record was issued as a single – Tamla Motown TMG 1241, as if you didn’t know – in August 1981, although it flopped.
You’ll have your own views about the OCC countdown, so let’s conclude by noting that the Top 100 includes several tracks which were either not available as singles in the U.S., or failed miserably when they were. Among those: Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday,” Diana Ross’ “I’m Still Waiting,” Frank Wilson’s “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” and Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons’ “The Night.”
As noted above, the PPL Top 60 spans the first 18 years of this century, and its top 30 positions appear below. This is essentially an update of the chart published and broadcast in August 2015, which ranked the 100 most-played Motown songs in Britain.
In the latest list, “All Night Long (All Night)” rules the roost, as it did in 2015. The third-placed track is also the same as three years ago: Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” But the runner-up has changed. In 2015, it was Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” mistakenly identified by PPL as a Motown track. In the newest chart, Lionel’s “Dancing On The Ceiling” stands – or levitates? – in second place. (“Sexual Healing” is excluded this time around.)
RICHIE WRITES, BRITONS LISTEN
Richie’s supremacy is hardly a shock. His Motown output as a solo artist in the 1980s has appealed to U.K. radio programmers for years, much as the music of the Commodores has done since the mid ’70s. The PPL chart offers further evidence of this: “Easy” is number 4, moving up from number 7 in 2015, while “Three Times A Lady” is number 13, up three slots. Both songs were written by Richie for the Commodores, of course.
The rest of the Top 10 broadly resembles the 2015 rundown, give or take. The most obvious exception is number 5: DeBarge’s “Rhythm Of The Night,” which appeared nowhere in the PPL chart three years ago. If its omission then wasn’t a mistake, the song’s new popularity is remarkable – perhaps the result of fresh admiration for the 1985 chopsocky movie from which it came, Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon.
The Jackson 5 (minus Jackie) on King’s Road, 1972
There are other anomalies when the OCC and PPL countdowns are compared. While streamers and downloaders are obviously partial to “I Want You Back,” it only just scrapes into the Top 20 based on PPL data. And Britain’s enduring love affair with the Four Tops is more obvious from what broadcasters play: the Tops have six tracks in the PPL Top 60, but only two in the OCC equivalent.
The most unexpected absentee from the PPL tabulation is Marvin & Tammi’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” The song is represented there – by Diana Ross’ remake, at number 16 – but the original recording is nowhere to be found. Nor was it ranked in the 2015 chart. This contrasts with the high placement of M&T’s crown jewel in the Official Charts countdown, and its global popularity. It’s one of the 500 most-streamed tracks on Spotify, and has accumulated hundreds of millions of plays worldwide across all such services.
Meanwhile, the scale of digital service providers (DSPs, as they’re known in the industry) continues to expand. Market leader Spotify has more than 100 million premium subscribers – paying customers, that is – around the world, and its competitors are growing rapidly, too.
The increase is evident from yet more numbers which quantify Motown’s most popular songs in Britain. Stevie’s “Superstition” grew from 15.6 million audio streams in 2017 to 19.5 million in 2018, according to the U.K. recording industry’s trade association, known as the BPI. It was also the most-streamed 1972 track by any singer or group, British or American.
“I Want You Back” increased from 12.6 million streams in 2017 to 20.4 million last year. Lionel’s “All Night Long (All Night)” ramped up its numbers from 7.2 million to 9.8 million, while “Dancing On The Ceiling” went from 2.9 million to 3.3 million. And the track which many consider to be Motown’s finest from the 1960s, Marvin’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” logged 6 million audio streams in Britain last year, up from 4.9 million the year before.
(These are impressive numbers for music from the past, although for the sake of comparison, consider that the most popular track in the U.K. last year, Drake’s “God’s Plan,” generated 147.4 million streams.)
Enough with the numbers, you might say, and I would agree. So let’s wrap this up by listing the 30 Motown songs most played on British radio and TV during the first 18 years of the 21st century. This table hasn’t been published elsewhere (thank you, PPL) and if you care enough to compare it to the Official Charts’ digital streaming and download statistics for a more recent period, here again is the link to the latter. Enjoy it all.
MOST PLAYED MOTOWN IN THE U.K. 2000-2018*
1. ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT), Lionel Richie (1)
2. DANCING ON THE CEILING, Lionel Richie (5)
3. I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE, Marvin Gaye (3)
4. EASY, Commodores (7)
5. RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT, DeBarge (–)
6. SUPERSTITION, Stevie Wonder (4)
7. UPSIDE DOWN, Diana Ross (11)
8. MY GIRL, Temptations (12)
9. REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE, Four Tops (9)
10. DANCING IN THE STREET, Martha & Vandellas (5)
11. WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKENHEARTED, Jimmy Ruffin (14)
12. THE TEARS OF A CLOWN, Smokey Robinson & Miracles (8)
13. THREE TIMES A LADY, Commodores (16)
14. PART-TIME LOVER, Stevie Wonder (31)
15. GET READY, Temptations (27)
16. AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH, Diana Ross (20)
17. BABY LOVE, Supremes (10)
18. MY GUY, Mary Wells (15)
19. THIS OLD HEART OF MINE, Isley Brothers (19)
20. I WANT YOU BACK, Jackson 5 (17)
21. BEING WITH YOU, Smokey Robinson (–)
22. I CAN’T HELP MYSELF, Four Tops (24)
23. THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS, Miracles (13)
24. TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MY BABY, Marvin Gaye (30)
25. HELLO, Lionel Richie (40)
26. SIR DUKE, Stevie Wonder (32)
27. SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I’M YOURS, Stevie Wonder (22)
28. LET’S GET IT ON, Marvin Gaye (21)
29. FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, Stevie Wonder (28)
30. STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE, Supremes (29)
*the number in parentheses denotes PPL chart position 2000-2015