Charts from the new millennium to 2007 are very problematic. A few factors threw them into chaos. The Canadian Singles chart, was a reflection of Canadian listening habits less and less, reaching rock bottom in the middle of the 2000s. Consider the following:

1. Single Versus Album Sales

For popular artists, Canadians normally bought the studio album rather than the singles. A single would appear as though it was not very popular due to poor performance on the singles chart, while, in fact, it was very popular; Canadians simply bought the album. A good example of this was Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated”. It was a very pouplar song in Canada (it won the JUNO for song of the year) but according to the Canadian Singles Chart, it was in the Top 40 for only 1 week (#21). Canadians simply bought Avril’s Let Go album, a diamond-seller.

2. Many Songs Were Never Released As Singles

Many popular songs that were played on the radio were not released as singles. A Singles Chart based solely on singles sales, then, will not include those popular songs.

3. The Switch from CD Singles to Digital Downloads

Generally-speaking, Canadians began to purchase more singles when they were available for download online. The charts, however, looked only at sales of CD singles at retail outlets and when they switched to ranking digital downloads, the process was not smooth, as many factors had to be taken into consideration. The charts for 2005 made little sense. Some songs were on the charts for two or three years. You’d see a song jump from the top of the charts to the bottom and then to the top again. U2 had five singles in the Top 20 at the same time, simply because people were downloading those particular songs from their album.

All of these problems were rectfied in the middle of 2007 when Billboard launched the Canadian Hot 100. It combines digital download data with radio airplay.

Not many songs from Canadian artists charted in the 2005 and 2006 Canadian Singles Chart due to the problems above. Moreover, the charts for the first half of 2006 are unavailable. There were many other songs that were popular during this time.

Legend

Below are two charts for each year: Canadian Singles Chart and, from Montreal radio station CKOI, a list of the most popular Francophone songs of the year.

CA is the peak position on the weekly Canadian Top 40 singles chart. We included only songs that peaked in the Top 20.

UK is the peak position on the weekly British charts; we looked only at songs that peaked in the Top 10.

USY is the posotion on the United State’s Billboard year-end Top 100.

POS is the position on CKOI’s year-end chart.

2005 Anglphone Hits

Title	Artist	CA	UK	USY
Paper Rain	Amanda Stott	1
On My Own	Hedley	1
Alive	Melissa O’Neil	1
Bad Day	Daniel Powter	7	2	1
Welcome to My Life	Simple Plan	19
Fast Lane	Esthero	19

2005 Francophone Hits

SONG	ARTIST	POS
SASKATCHEWAN	LES TROIS ACCORDS	4
LES ETOILES FILANTES	LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS	7
ETRANGE	DOBACARACOL	9
ENCORE UNE NUIT	MARIE MAI	15
J’AURAIS VOULU	DAMIEN	21
LA BARTENDRESSE	ERIC LAPOINTE	23
EMBARQUE MA BELLE	KAIN	25
NAITRE	MARIE-CHANTAL TOUPIN	27
LES CORNEILLES	JEAN LELOUP	29
TOMBER A L’EAU	ANNIE VILLENEUVE	31
LEGENDE URBAINE	EMILY	34
LE COLUMBARIUM	PIERRE LAPOINTE	36
LUCILLE	LES TROIS ACCORDS	39
LA REINE	LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS	42
GROOVE GRAVE	LOCO LOCASS	44
J’ERRE	DUMAS	47
J’ENTENDS TA VOIX	FRANCE D’AMOUR	49

2006 Anglophone Hits

Title	Artist	CA	UK	USY
Promiscuous	Nelly Furtado	1*	3	3
Meant to Fly	Eva Avila	1
Savin’ Me	Nickelback	2		49
Maneater	Nelly Furtado	2*	1
Say Anything	Marianas Trench	3
All Good Things	Nelly Furtado	3*	4
Photograph	Nickelback			38
Far Away	Nickelback			53

* Hot Canadian Digital Singles Chart

2006 Francophone Hits

SONG	ARTIST	POS
DEGENERATIONS	MES AIEUX	3
MARIA	QBANITO	6
ADAM ET ÈVE	KAIN	12
PLUS RIEN	LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS	14
MONTREAL	ARIANE MOFFATT	16
TURN YOUR HEAD AROUND	L’ASSEMBLEE	18
DEUX PAR DEUX RASSEMBLES	PIERRE LAPOINTE	25
TANGERINE	JEAN LECLERC	28
COMME DANS L’TEMPS	KAIN	31
LE MOUSTIQUE	STEFIE SHOCK	36
DANS LES YEUX D’EMILIE	PIERRE LAPOINTE	38
GRAND CHAMPION	LES TROIS ACCORDS	40
REGARDE-MOI	DANY BEDAR	44
JE PARS A PIED	VINCENT VALLIERES	46
YOLANDE WONG	ANDRE	47
MELE-TOI DE TES AFFAIRES	LES RESPECTABLES	49