COMMENTARY:
I am extremely pleased at this year's turnout. It was pretty obvious what artist took control of the chart this year. (yes, pun was majorly intended). "Camouflage" (#1) totally dominated the chart and managed to spend a very impressive 21 weeks on the chart. The points were extremely close between the top 4 songs.
The biggest shocker of the year was definitley Ginny Owens' "All I Want to Do" (#5) claiming the number 5 spot this year. I had totally forgot that it had 6 weeks earlier in the year that it racked up some really hefty points. So, that added with her nice 16 week run at the end of the year sent her to the top. Also, I never would have imagined that Steven Curtis Chapman's "See the Glory" (#8) would have landed a top 10 spot, but nonetheless it did, and I couldn't be more pleased. Nichole Nordeman's "Holy" (#10)barely manages to sneak into the Top 10, while one of my favorites of the year, Bebo Norman's "Great Light of the World" (#11) barely misses the distinct honor.
Other songs that didn't fair as well I had expected include Cindy Morgan's "Walk in the Rain" (#22), Plus One's "I Don't Care" (#26), Stacie Orrico's "Everything" (#34), and The Martins' "You Are Holy" (#39).
Sleeper Hits (songs that weren't singles yet still impacted the chart) didn't do as well this year as last. The biggest Sleeper this year was Cindy Morgan's "Love Can" (#4), which holds the honor of being the longest running song on the chart this year with an overlly imressive 26 weeks. It spend exactly the last half of the year on the chart. "I Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot was almost as impressive, coming in at #6 for the year and racking up 20 weeks on the chart. Cindy Morgan had 3 Sleeper Hits go #1 this year, easily the most in a year by one artist. Sleeper Hits that hit the Top 50 for the year include the aforementioned "Love Can" and "I Dare You to Move" and also "Happy" (#12), "Innocence" (#13), "Walk in the Rain" (#22), "Have a Litte Hope" (#33), "Everything" (#34), and "You Are Holy" (#39). The highest ranking Sleeper Hit that did not break the Top 30 within the year was Out of Eden's "Now I Sing" (#132) which peaked at #34 and spent an impressive 13 weeks on the chart. Not too shabby.
New Artists (which is defined by an artist debuting this year or one that has never charted previously) faired MUCH better this year than they did last year. The biggest New Artists by far were Paul Alan and Ronnie Freeman who both racked up two number one's apiece ("She's the Reason" (#30) & "Have a Little Hope" (#33) and "Could It Be" (#7) & "The Only Thing" (#25) respectively). Both artists also had a Top 5 hit during the year. No other New Artist claimed a #1 song this year, but downhere's "Free Me Up" (#35), All Together Seperate's "I Won't Slow Down" (#53), Lincoln Brewster's "All I Really Want" (#54), and Jeremy Camp's "Understand" (#57) all scored Top 5 positions this year.
The biggest artists were that of Shaun Groves (3 #1's), who had 6 singles, and Mark Schultz (3 #1's), had 5 singles chart within the Top 150 for the year. Plus One (4 #1's), Ginny Owens (2 #1's), Out of Eden (1 #1), Jennifer Knapp, Paul Alan (2 #1's), Rachael Lampa (2 #1's), and The Katinas (1 #1) all had 4 songs rank in the Top 50 this year.
There were 42 #1 songs this year, which broke last year's record of 40.
TOP
ARTISTS OF 2002
ALBUM COMMENTARY
HOW ARE YEAR END CHARTS
COMPILED?
The year end charts are compiled by a true mathematical formula. It's
really not that confusing, but I like to make it look like I am smarter
than I am. Every week, the Top 50 Songs are given a numerical point value
in inverse order, in other words, if a song ranks #1 for the week, it
receives 50 points, #2 receives 49 points, #3 receives 48 points, etc.
all the way down to #50, which receives 1 point for the week. At the end
of the year, I add up all the points, and the songs with the most points
make up the Top 150 for the year.
However, I do give some songs bonuses. If a song goes #1, it recieves 15 bonus points. This is my way of rewarding a song for going #1, which not every song does. So if a song goes #1 for 2 weeks, it receives 30 extra points, etc. So in actuality, a #1 song actually gets 65 points instead of only 50. So since "Camouflage" claimed 2weeks at #1, it claimed 30 bonus points, in addition to the points which it incurred during its stay on the chart.
PP Peak position on the chart
WO= # of Weeks song has charted