No Rock And Roll Fun

IT'S THE ONLY CHART THAT COUNTS. COUNTS PEOPLE RINGING IN REQUESTS TO THE BOX, THAT IS: This town ain't big enough for three charts and now they've started to squabble amongst themselves over what the most accurate measure of what MediaGuardian calls "teenager's" most popular tunes are (erm, surely the chart is meant to reflect national tastes?). The BBC says that getting someone to buy a single proves how popular it is. EMAP - daddy of the fledgling Smash Hit chart - suggests the cash relationship shown by selecting a track from Sky is equally important. It depends, of course, on whether you want a chart that reflects sales, or tries to measure devotion (although counting up votes on Smash Hits TV and the Box is surely, simply saying to record labels 'Dial this number to boost your chart position - but check with your accounts department first'?).