Shipkevics beats Harry Styles and Freddy
The “Radio SWH” ranking, as befits commercial radio stations, includes both domestic artists and foreign musicians (on the criteria for determining the best song a little later), so Jānis Šipkēvics junior, or Shipsea, may be especially honored that in the reference period of 2022 he reaches the top step of the Top 40 podium with the song “Pie upes”. Behind Schipish is the British superstar Harry Styles with the song “As It Was”, while in the bronze positions there is “Lůvůlīgais tipus” with summer party hit “Tukšu tačka”, released in mid-May.
Behind the top three is Lewis Capaldi (the song ‘Forget Me’), the Scottish ‘star’ seen with a concert in Vilnius last year, while shock duo of national pop and hip-hop leaders Don and Roland Če with “BrīnīšķiĂgo dinė”, the group “The Sound Poets” with “Rituals”, the main artist of the festival “Positivus ’23” Sam Smith and the German Kim Petras with “Unholy”, Aminata and Boo with the catchy and energetic hit “Kur saule “, the Robin Schulz & Dennis Lloyd collaboration “Young Right Now”, but the top ten closes ‘Other Boys’ with ‘Excessive Stucco’.
It should be noted that Don, Shipey and Harry Styles are represented in the Top 20 with one more song each (in 14th, 15th and 16th place respectively). Among the surprises, we should mention the relatively low 26th place of the hit “Bermuda dinstūra” and “Apvedceļa” “Brother, don’t haggle with your life” – it seemed that this nauseatingly catchy and laboriously often sung piece, so at some point i was afraid to turn on the iron and open the refrigerator, there will be at least Top 10… You can familiarize yourself with all the best results on the site of “Radio SWH”.
The most important ranking that has been on the air for 30 years
The reviewer decided to find out how this prestigious top is formed, which is the dream of almost every Latvian folk music performer. The “Radio SWH” Top 20, from which the Top 40 is formed at the end of the year, has been heard in various times and broadcast formats since the establishment of the radio station in 1993. Over the years, “Radio SWH” Top 20 has acquired the status of the most important music chart in the country, where every domestic musician wants to get. Success in this chart has paved the way for countless artists and bands’ success stories,” which the radio station’s representatives are proud of on their website.” “Radio SWH Top 20 is also significant in that it is the only top music among the biggest Latvian radio stations, where the order of the songs positions is completely determined by the listeners, who vote for them on our website.”
At one time, the top was personified by DJ Artis Wolf, but since 2010 it has been managed by another air personality – Artis Dvarionas. “How the chart is formed: one part is what listeners vote for, and the other part is the DJ airplay chart, which reflects what and how often we play on the air, how long we keep songs in rotation, etc. Remembering how long Shipsea had been in rotation with the song “By the River” in the spring, good results were immediately felt. Enough experience has already been accumulated in these years, that from the number of weeks spent in rotation of the song in question, one can guess at least the approximate results of the year. Therefore, the victory in Shipsea – no, it was not a big surprise,” explains Artis Dvarionas.
They stopped voting for Madonna a long time ago, now for them
Of the songs that entered the year-end chart, 24 are domestic songs and 16 are foreign productions. The arrival of Westerners in the upper echelons is essentially the result of the aforementioned “airplay” rankings of DJs, so the blame lies with the “Radio SWH” triumvirate Artis Dvarionas, Artis Wolfs and Andris Freidenfelds, or Fredis. “The top 85% of listeners vote for Latvians, that’s why there is this “airplay” top, which strikes a balance between foreign music and Latvian music, because the purpose of the Top 40 is to reflect the current radio station ”, says Artis Dvarionas. ‘Of course, the vast majority of people vote for national artists – there are no longer those moments when a large number of people would vote outliers, for example, for a Madonna song. Also, let’s be honest, [izpildītāji] they also vote for themselves, perhaps not directly, but by mobilizing the companies of their friends and relatives”.
The annual top is formed by the results of the weekly Top 20, so in total the results table is formed by about 50 votes per week. The higher the place, the more points, the longer the graph, the greater the possibility of replenishing the points archive plus the “airplay” graph data – we must admit that mathematically it is not the simplest process. But it doesn’t matter whether the particular hit was the king of the charts, for example in March or in August, here everyone has an equal chance. There are problems with those songs that charted at the end of the year. “We’ve had cases where a song hits the charts in November, stays top in December, and doesn’t leave it until mid-February, but doesn’t get a top spot on the chart for the year because it falls on the boundary where calendars divide the year, so grades are split in half between the top two years,” Artis recalls. The most recent example is Taylor Swift with her worldwide hit “Anti-Hero”, released in early November.
Don with “Brainstorm” will try to win “his” survey
In terms of summing up the results of the year, the summit of “Radio SWH” seems to be more objective than the second (but maybe even the first) summit of the most prestigious radio station – Latvian Radio 2 “Music Bank”. Here, the emphasis is on final voting and even listening to the audience’s thoughts during the live broadcast of the closing ceremony, so it only makes sense that fresher songs have an edge over medleys that have been played on their own pleasure from the beginning of the year.
Voting for the ‘Music Bank 2022’ finals has just begun this week. Until January 16th the 25 songs of the final will be evaluated by the public and the jury, but from January 17th to 24th the voting will continue only for the 15 favorite songs of the public. Voting takes place on the poll website, while the most valuable song of the year will be determined after the final vote of the public at the awards ceremony, which will take place on January 28 at the Daugavpils Olympic Center. “This season of “Music Bank”, nearly 150 songs were included in the survey and 44 tops were released. It must be said that several big artists have remained silent, some of whom only released their latest songs at the end of the year , so they no longer managed to make it to the finalists. In any case, it gives young musicians a better chance to enter the finals,” says Kaspars Mauriņš, director of Latvian Radio 2.
A good song is highly quoted in any radio station – “Pie upes”, “Tukšu tačku”, “Brīnīšīga diena”, “Kur saule”, “Gads bez Kalendar” etc. are also visible on top of “Muzikalās banka”, which are also visible on “Radio SWH” Top 40. The specificity of Latvian Radio 2 audience is that listeners of this radio station have always loved Don (as well as “Prāta Vētra” and Intar Busulis, as well as the ” Musiqq” guys and Ivo Fomin), so Shipsea will probably have to receive another award until February 18, when “Golden Microphones” will be presented in Ķipsala, but – who knows, who knows…
“Music Banks 2022” Top 25 (in alphabetical order):
“Aphrodite” – Aminata
“Back” – ArtifexLV and Intars Busulis
“Wonderful Day” – Don, Roland Če
“Through the Flowers” – “The River of Time”
“A year without a calendar” – “Prāta Vētra”, Asnate Rancāne
“Across the street” – Ivo Fomins, Tipa
“What else do I need” – Mesa
“Where is the sun” – Aminata, Boo
“Time Machine” – Kato
“Laternas” – “Sudden Lights”
“Latvian” – “Līvi”
“Excess Grout” – “Other Guys”
“Bride” – “Bermuda Triangle”, “Auuli”
“The smuggling of love” – Martha
“Muoseņa” – “Tautumeitas”, Renars Kauper
“About you” – AnnaKrista, Edavārdi
“The World Is Shaking” – ZeBrene, “Sudden Lights”
“By the River” – Shipsea
“For a fire” – “The poets of sound”
“We talk to talk” – Miks Dukurs, Veiv
“Sīknauda” – Diona
“Your touch” – Don
“Empty Horseshoe” – “The Favorable Kind”
“Turbulence” – room
“Golden Chains” – Darta Stepanova
