Pauline Hanson, Holly Valance’s collaboration Kiss Kiss (XX) My Arse makes a right-focused iTunes surge

Holly Valance might have a “No.1 hit” today thanks to her collaboration with Pauline Hanson, but it doesn’t mean all that much – at least not yet.

Valance’s cover of her own 2002 pop release, Kiss Kiss, now re-released as Kiss Kiss (XX) My Arse with new, incendiary lyrics aimed at marginalised groups including transgender people, has the very specific title of being the top song on Apple Music’s iTunes charts today.

That list encompasses only songs purchased via digital download on iTunes, and does not take in music that has been streamed through Apple Music or other subscription music services.

Apple does not release data (the company was contacted for comment) but the consensus among industry experts is that digital purchases make up a small portion of share of listening compared to streaming.

One anonymous insider speculated that as few as “a couple of hundred downloads” could potentially see you chart on the iTunes list.

But, radio presenter Kent “Smallzy” Small, who recently moved his show to KIIS, told The Nightly that the number would vary every day.

“You might have to get 200,000 listens in one day to be in the top 10 (streaming charts) in Australia, and Spotify is transparent about that. Conversely, on iTunes, you may need 5000 people to buy that song. The difference is you don’t know the numbers on the (latter).

“It’s easier to chart on iTunes than it would be to navigate the streaming chart.”

Kiss Kiss (XX) My Arse was released as part of Hanson’s animated feature film, A Super Progressive Movie, which is screening for one night per capital city, or is available to stream as a one-off purchase through the film’s website.

In announcing the release of the film yesterday, the Facebook page for Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain, the web series which spun off the feature film, specifically implored its followers to download Valance’s single on iTunes.

“NOTE: If enough copies are sold, the song will be forced to be played on radio stations across the country, including Triple J. Wouldn’t the ABC have a heart attack knowing they had to play this track,” the account posted.

However, radio stations are not obliged to play a song just because it is charting on iTunes.

The official ARIA weekly charts will be released on Friday afternoon, which is determined by calculations that scale the value of physical purchases, digital purchases and streams to reflect how much money is being made by singles and albums.

ARIA told The Nightly the current calculations weigh a single digital purchase as being the equivalent of 445 listens on an ad-supported streaming service or 200 streams of a premium subscription streaming service.

Small added, “The mathematical equation says that people who have bought a song is showing different intent to someone who may have casually streamed it.

“So, when ARIA is compiling its chart, I wouldn’t be surprised, depending on what the numbers are on this Holly Valance song, you may see her have a top 10 this week in Australia.”

Dr Tim Byron, a music expert from the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong, said that because of changing listener behaviour, it’s harder for a one-off song to penetrate the official charts. Popular songs from established mainstream artists tend to stay in the top 100 for longer and can be difficult to dislodge.

The success of Valance’s song on the iTunes charts is likely a means to an end, a strategy to grab attention and headlines. She’s also not alone.

After last week’s social media circus in the aftermath of Brooklyn Beckham’s post accusing his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, of controlling his life and attempting to sabotage his marriage to wife Nicola Peltz, the former Spice Girl was unexpectedly thrust back into the UK charts.

Beckham scored her first No.1 solo single, her 2001 track Not Such An Innocent Girl, on the official UK weekly charts. Her resurgent fandom was activated by the attacks on their idol from her son, who rallied to show their support by buying her song.

But given its top position on specifically the singles sales charts without cracking the primary top 100 list - which is a combination of sales and streams - suggests that it is a particular cohort of music consumer that is driving that surge.

Dr Byron pointed to a previous political song that unexpectedly charted in Australia, albeit in a different era. In 1991, the anti-war ditty Stop the War in Croatia by Tomisla Ivcic reached No.7 on the top 10 chart.

In four weeks, more than 50,000 copies had been sold thanks in part to an activated diaspora community who responded to a campaign that the proceeds would be put towards medical supplies being airlifted into warzones.

“It’s a version of ‘get out the vote’, really,” Small explained of the Beckham and Valance cases.

“Looking at the (Australian) iTunes chart today, beyond that (Valance) song, which was clearly was a release tied to a movie, most of the (rest of the) chart reflects the streaming chart.

“Where those similarities don’t cross over, you might find yourself in an instance where there’s a passionate fan base who are buying it, but it’s not reflective of necessarily the wider mainstream.”

Small added that gaming the sales charts was not unprecedented in the industry. He cited the example of an artist who announces a tour and then bundles a ticket with an album, which is then included in the chart calculations.

“That is a chart manipulation tactic to get a No.1 record,” he said. “Across the board, you see these things play out in an attempt to try and get some publicity around any artist, any song.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily done for the chart (position), it’s more to sell a campaign – ‘We debuted at number one in 50 countries’ – because that’s a great line.

“If (Valance and Beckham) are doing it, it’s not anything that hasn’t been done a thousand times.”

Valance’s song was, earlier today, also 143rd on the iTunes charts in Ireland, and 194th in the UK, where she is now based. It was also charting in nineth spot on the iTunes list in Qatar.

The former Neighbours actor is now an outspoken right-wing commentator who has aligned herself with the politics and policies of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and, now, Hanson.

Despite the claim in the Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain post that the song would be “forced” on radio stations if it sold enough copies, for commercial radio stations, politically divisive songs carry extra risk.

Dr Byron explained that radio stations want listeners to stay on until the next ad break and then the one following that, and a song that could move at least half its audience to change the dial is not good business.

But the promise of getting one over on Hanson supporters’ perceived enemies such as the ABC could still have acted as a motivating factor in driving the sales of Valance’s song.

Ultimately, it was more likely a headline-grabbing publicity stunt than any serious return to the industry for Valance. Music lovers know this too.

“These chart positions are real, but what does it mean to the actual consumer? Not much at the end of the day,” Small said. “In my business, the music business, I like to observe trends, not one-offs.

“If Holly Valance, hypothetically, is still in the top 10 two weeks from now, that’s when we’re going to start to have a different conversation. That’s when you go, OK, because sustaining something like that is different to having a peak like that.