The FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart is a weekly countdown of today’s best new music, featuring the hottest new bands and projects from around the world.
The chart is compiled by the FEISTY team in a distinctive Top 50 format and updated every Thursday on the FEISTY website.
Originally inspired by the golden age of the Official Chart Company’s UK Indie Chart, the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart gathers essential new alternative, indie, pop and rock, from familiar names and new faces alike.
We hope that the chart acts as not only a fun way to showcase new releases, but also as a snapshot of what’s trending and fresh in music today.
What is the idea behind the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart?
The FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart was inspired by the UK Independent Singles Chart (commonly known as the UK Indie Chart), a sales-based chart launched in January 1980 and once highly influential within the worlds of indie and alternative music.
The chart acted, in its heyday, as a who’s who of the bands that music enthusiasts and indie kids needed to know about. A book listing all of the songs to chart in the 1980s, Indie Hits 1980-1989, is a goldmine of forgotten gems and weighty classics.
The golden age was before our younger team’s time, however, and by the 21st century the chart had spiritually died, as major label ownership of independent labels, a shift in the independent music scene, and streaming quirks turned the chart into a triviality.
In founding the chart, we set out to capture some of that magic and zeitgeisty glamour. We’re hoping that our readers, followers, and even the bands featured will be excited to find out what’s in the chart each Thursday, and that the archive listings act as a sort of time capsule of the best music from any given period.
The name of the chart reflects that it’s an alternative to the traditional pop-oriented Top 40, as published in the UK by the Official Charts Company, to which we have no affiliation.
Does the chart use any metrics, or is it compiled manually?
The FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart is editorial-based, not sales-based. It’s compiled by the FEISTY team, who select, place and manoeuvre the tracks according to our own subjective criteria, rather than basing it on numbers like a traditional singles chart.
Some might wonder why we’re compiling a chart based on anything other than hard, quantitative data. We feel that it’s more fun than publishing a standard playlist, and that it gamifys new music in a way that’s different to what everyone else is doing.
That said, we do consider some metrics when we’re selecting songs. These can include Spotify streaming numbers, YouTube plays and follower counts, and it does somewhat inform chart placement, albeit not as an exact science.
What music is eligible for the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart?
The FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart is open format, meaning that all singles are eligible to appear within the chart. In practice, we focus on alternative, indie and rock artists, as well as pop artists beyond the world of the traditional Top 40.
Artists that are deemed to be heavily embedded in the mainstream pop world, even if some charts list them as alternative artists, are almost always excluded from inclusion. As such, you won’t find the likes of Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish or Justin Bieber in our chart.
An artist might qualify with their early releases and then move beyond the scope of our chart. This is especially common with new pop acts that move beyond the underground and into the mainstream, or those that make a shift away from our world. Likewise, an artist may be passed on during one era and included during another.
We won’t chart singles that we think aren’t very good, even if we’ve previously included the artist. After all, despite the presentation, it is an editorial chart, driven by a love of the music and not just the numbers.
When did the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart begin?
The FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart debuted on 2 January 2020. The first number-one single was No One’s Gonna Ever Love You by Delacey. The first chart also included new music from artists including Grimes, Gengahr, Thyla, Do Nothing, Sorry, La Roux, The Big Moon, Hockey Dad and Tame Impala.
Can I view a full history of the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart?
Every edition of the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart is archived here. We don’t yet have an A-Z index of entries or chart runs, but we’re planning to add one in the future.
Can I submit a song for the FEISTY Alternative Singles Chart?
The FEISTY team is always keen to hear about great new music. If you want to make sure we know about a song while we’re compiling the chart, send us a tip with the details or drop our editor a line at [email protected].
