The Pop Corporation

Remember everyone (well, not everyone) kicking off about BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of Poll? Chappell Roan won last time around, but a good number of people thought she was too famous to have won a prize for being a ‘rising’ act.

They kinda had a point.

The BBC have now said that acts with a “significant public profile” will be omitted, which sounds fair enough. Previous rules did account for this, but it seems Roan’s sudden and spectacular rise turned everything on its head.

Before, an artist wouldn’t be eligible if they’d had a UK Number One or Number Two album by a certain point. However, a tweak of those rules noted that an artist could not have had “more than two Top 10 albums in the UK Official Albums Chart”, and of course, Roan only had one LP on the market.

At the time, a spokesperson told the NME: “The Sound Of list has a strong track record of predicting future superstars and we periodically review the criteria to better reflect how audiences consume music.”

The furore over Roan’s win – which wasn’t her fault for the record – has seen the Beeb change things up again.

Now, an artist can’t have more than three Top 10 singles in the Official UK Singles Chart by the cut-off point. They also can’t have had a number one album as a lead artist. This seems fair, if the goal of the award is to champion smaller acts who are tipped for the top.