Ok, re: "Love is Bigger" climbing the Billboard dance club charts. How seriously can we take that? From what I can tell, Billboard doesn't distinguish between which version/remix of the song is being played in clubs. So it would seem to me that anyone with the money to commission 32 (and counting!) damn remixes of a song is going to inevitably end up on those charts. The market is beyond flooded. Or is there actually a version or versions that is getting serious play more than others?
No the chart is as you suspect, a compilation of all club reported play. And what better way to get 30 DJs to add it to their set than to get 30 DJs to remix it?
But it's still a fair measure I think, as everyone seems to be doing the same thing. I've seen so many mentions of these same DJs doing Celine Dion's Ashes, from the Deadpool soundtrack, that I've actually come to expect some of the same names to pop up on U2...and sure enough they have...
Yeah, it seems to be the trend. By releasing a ton of remixes and staggering the releases every week, it can push a song up the charts. I guess that's the only way to do it for older acts now. If the sum total of "Love is Bigger" remixes had been that 3-song digital EP released way back on May 4, I have no doubt the song would have fallen off the charts and been forgotten by now. The reason it's at #9 is because U2 keeps releasing a new batch of remixes every few days and forcing it back in the spotlight.
Is this cheating? Of course. But as you said, everyone is doing it now, and it seems to come from the same school of thought that pushes an album to #1 on Billboard by bundling it with concert ticket sales.