Countdown (MuchMusic TV series)

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Countdown is a ninety-minute music video program block that airs on Canadian music television station MuchMusic. The program airs a playlist of the most well-known songs in the mainstream; the first half of the show plays recently released and most popular music videos, while the second half focuses on the top 10 videos, whether they be ascending or descending the chart. Countdown is one of the oldest programs that continues to be aired on MuchMusic since its debut.

The order of the videos goes from #30-#1, although only about 17-20 of those videos are actually played, while the rest are just mentioned in a clip that shows the 3 most recent videos played (i.e., #19, 18, 17) that is aired before commercials. Most of the videos that go unplayed are old videos that are fading off the chart, or less popular videos. Every video in the top-10 is played, however. A music video that reaches the number 1 spot usually stays there for 1-2 weeks.

1 This Week
2 Chart Patterns
3 Trivia
4 Links
5 External links

[edit] This Week

The top five as of November 17, 2006 are:

#	Artist	Song	Last Week	Peak	Album
#1	City and Colour	"Comin' Home"	#2	#1	Sometimes
#2	Hinder	"Lips Of An Angel"	#3	#2	Extreme Behavior
#3	Hedley	"Gunnin'"	#4	#3	Hedley
#4	Nelly Furtado	"Maneater"	#5	#4	Loose
#5	My Chemical Romance	"Welcome To The Black Parade"	#6	#5	The Black Parade

New Videos this week

#	Artist	Song	Album
#30	The Killers	"Bones"	Sam's Town
#29	Keshia Chanté	"2U"	2U
#27	Gwen Stefani	"Wind It Up"	The Sweet Escape

The fastest rising video this week is Eminem feat. 50 Cent, Cashis, and Lloyd Banks's - "You Don't Know" rising 5 positions from #25 to #20.

[edit] Chart Patterns

The patterns that Countdown follows become very predictable to someone who regularly examines the weekly list. A few very obvious patterns are:

When videos that have been progressing slowly stay at a position for two consecutive weeks (i.e. #15), they often fall in the third week. If a video were to stay at #15 for two consecutive weeks, it would likely drop to somewhere in the 20's for the third week.

Videos almost never jump from any position other than number two, up to the number one spot. This means that a video that is at number three or four for a week will almost never jump to number one for the following week. This leads videos almost never failing to reach number one after reaching number two.

Recently, videos rarely stay at number one for more than one week. This could be attributed to there being numerous popular videos being on the Countdown at a certain time. However, some of the most popular videos such as The Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" or Rihanna's "S.O.S." climb to number one in a very short period of time, but then fall from the top spot after just one week. Other videos that take a long time to climb to number one such as Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance" manage to hold onto number one for two weeks.

Videos that fall from number one often drop several positions the week after being at number one. Again, this could be attributed there being numerous popular videos being on the Countdown at a certain time.

Videos almost never begin to ascend the Countdown after already being on the Countdown and falling off, or peaking and beginning to drop.

[edit] Trivia

Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" spent five weeks at number one, the longest stay at the top position.

Hoobastank's "The Reason", Nelly's "Dilemma" and No Doubt's "Don't Speak" spent six weeks within the top three, the longest stay in these ranks.

The highest debut on the Countdown was "Missing", by Everything But The Girl, back in 1996. The song debuted at number eighteen.

The biggest ascent on the Countdown was nine positions. This was achieved by k-os' "Crabbuckit" (from number twenty to number eleven) and D12's "My Band" (from number twenty-four to number fifteen).

The largest descent Countdown was seventeen positions. This was achieved by Usher's and Alicia Keys' "My Boo" (from number thirteen to number thirty). A few weeks later, this was achieved by Sum 41's "Pieces" (from number eleven to number twenty-eight).

Falling from grace: the biggest fall on the MuchMusic Countdown from the #1 spot was 12 positions, to #13 accomplished by Britney Spears's "Toxic", and also by Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man".

Hilary Duff's "Come Clean" peaked at number four on the Countdown. It began to descend and when it reached number twenty-two, it reascended to number nineteen. When a song has peaked, it is rare for it to reascend.

Mobile's "Out of My Head" reached number one for one week and descended to number ten before starting to ascend the Countdown again. It reached number one again seven weeks later, which is the longest gap for the same song at the top position. This feat might have been achieved because the dance remix of the song was released with an edited version of the music video. When it debuted, this counted the song as a new entry at number ten. The song spent twenty-two weeks on the Countdown, to date the most since the program's premiere.

Dashboard Confessional's "Don't Wait" was the most recent video to go and stall at the lowest position number on the countdown, it was at number 26. The last video that held the record was Seether's "Remedy" which stalled at number 25.

The biggest ascent on the Countdown in one week was ten positions. This was achieved by Elvis Presley vs. JXL's " A Little Less Conversation" (number 18 to number 8) back in 2002. Rising nine positons in one week was Shakira's "Underneath Your Clothes" (24 to 15), k-os' "Crabbuckit" (from number twenty to number eleven) and D12's "My Band" (from number twenty-four to number fifteen).

The largest descent Countdown was twenty positions. This was achieved by N'Sync's "It's Gonna Be Me" way back in 2000. Descending 17 positions was Usher's and Alicia Keys' "My Boo" (from number thirteen to number thirty) in early 2005, and a few weeks later, this was also achieved by Sum 41's "Pieces" (from number eleven to number twenty-eight).

Mobile's "Out of My Head" reached number one for one week (May 26) and descended to number ten before starting to ascend the Countdown again. It reached number one again seven weeks later (July 14), which is the longest gap for the same song at the top position. This feat might have been achieved because the dance remix of the song was released with an edited version of the music video. When it debuted, this probably counted the song as a new entry at number ten. The song spent twenty-two weeks on the Countdown, to date the most since the program's premiere.

Lillix's "Sweet Temptation" was the most recent video to go and stall at the lowest position number on the countdown, it was at number 26. Other videos to stall at a low positon were Dashboard Confessional's "Don't Wait" (at number 26) Seether's "Remedy" which peaked at number 24. Two videos stalled at the lowest position: one was P. Dissy's "Show Me Your Soul", and the other's was Kid Rock's "Forever, both of which stalled at number 27.