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Billboard charts
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The Billboard charts are music sales, airplay and digital ranking reports distributed to the general public by Billboard magazine. Billboard is considered the foremost authority worldwide in these song sales, airplay, digital reports, or music charts.
On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade and on July 20, 1940 the first Music Popularity Chart was calculated.
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Encyclopedia
The Billboard charts are music sales, airplay and digital ranking reports distributed to the general public by Billboard magazine. Billboard is considered the foremost authority worldwide in these song sales, airplay, digital reports, or music charts.
On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade and on July 20, 1940 the first Music Popularity Chart was calculated. Since 1958 the Hot 100 has been published, combining single sales, radio airplay and Digital Downloads.
Methodology of its charts
Currently, Billboard utilizes a system called Nielsen SoundScan to track sales of singles, albums, videos and DVDs. Essentially, it's a system that registers sales when the product is purchased at the cash register of SoundScan-enabled stores. Billboard also uses a system called Broadcast Data Systems, or BDS, which they own as a subsidiary, to track radio airplay. Each song has a musical "fingerprint" which, when played on a radio station that is contracted to use BDS, is detected. These detections are added up every week among all radio stations to determine airplay points. Arbitron statistics are also factored in to give "weight" to airplay based on audience size and time-of-day.
Each of Billboard's charts use this basic formula. What separates the charts is what stations or stores each chart uses - each musical genre having a core audience or retail group. Each genre's department at Billboard is headed up by a chart manager, who makes these determinations.
For many years, a song had to be commercially available as a single to be considered for any of Billboard's charts. At the time, instead of using SoundScan or BDS, Billboard obtained its data from manual reports filled out by radio stations and stores. According to the 50th Anniversary issue of Billboard magazine, prior to the official implementation of Nielsen SoundScan tracking in November 1991, many radio stations and retail stores would completely remove songs from their manual reports after the associated record labels stopped promoting a particular single, thus songs would fall quickly after peaking and had shorter chart lives. In 1990, the country singles chart was the first chart to use SoundScan and BDS. They were followed by the Hot 100 and the R&B chart in 1991. Today, all of Billboard's charts use this technology.
Before September 1995, singles were allowed to chart in the week they first went on sale based on airplay points alone. The policy was changed in September 1995 to only allow a single to debut after a full week of sales on combined sales and airplay points. This allowed several tracks to debut at number one.
In December 1998, the policy was further modified to allow tracks to chart on the basis of airplay alone without a commercial release. This change was made to reflect the changing realities of the music business. Previous to this, several substantial radio and MTV hits had not appeared on the Billboard chart at all, because companies chose not to release them as standalone singles, in hopes that their unavailability would spur greater album sales. Not offering a popular song to the public as a single was unheard of before the 1970s. Among the many pre-1999 songs that had ended up in this Hot 100 limbo were Nirvana's "All Apologies", the Cardigans' "Lovefool", Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun", OMC's "How Bizarre", Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta", Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity", Everclear's "Santa Monica", Stone Temple Pilots' "Interstate Love Song", Fastball's "The Way", the Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm", Veruca Salt's "Seether", and The Cranberries' "Zombie", as well as numerous Green Day, Live, Offspring, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mariah Carey, Alanis Morissette and Foo Fighters tracks.
Starting in 2005, Billboard changed its methodology to allow paid digital downloads from digital music stores such as iTunes to chart with or without the help of radio airplay.
A variety of charts
Originally, Billboard had separate charts for different measures of popularity, including disk jockey playings, juke box playings, and best selling records in stores. There was also a composite standing chart compiled by combining those, which gradually grew to become a top 100, the ancestor of the current Hot 100 chart. The juke box chart ceased publication after the June 17, 1957 issue, the disk jockey chart, after the July 28, 1958 issue, and the best seller chart, after the October 13, 1958 issue. The July 28, 1958 issue was also the last issue in which the composite chart was called the Top 100; the following week was the start of the Hot 100 titles.
Currently, Billboard has many different charts with the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 being the most famous. Billboard also has charts for the following music styles: rock, country, dance, bluegrass, jazz, classical, R&B, rap, electronic, pop, Latin, Christian music, comedy albums, and even for ringtones for cell phones.
At year's end
At the end of each year, Billboard tallies the results of all of its charts, and the results are published in a year-end issue and heard on year-end editions of its American Top 40 and American Country Countdown radio broadcasts, in addition to being announced in the press. Between 1991 and 2006, the top single/album/artist(s) in each of those charts was/were awarded in the form of the annual Billboard Music Awards, which were annually held in December until the awards went dormant in 2007 (plans for a new version of the awards in 2008 fell through, and no awards have been held since 2007). The year-end charts cover a period from the first week of December of the previous year to the last week of November of the respective year.
Singles and Tracks
All-genre
| Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| The Billboard Hot 100 | The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly. Chart rankings are based on airplay and sales (both physical sales and digital downloads). | | Hot 100 Airplay | The Hot 100 Airplay measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts of the Hot 100. | | Hot 100 Single Sales | The Hot 100 Singles Sales (also known as Singles Sales) measures sales of commercial singles and is one of three component charts of the Hot 100 and Pop 100. | | Hot 100 Singles Recurrents | The Hot 100 Single Recurrents ranks the songs that have been on the Hot 100 for more than 20 weeks and have dropped below #50. | | Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay | The Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay ranks the song on the Hot 100 Airplay that has been on the chart for more than 20 weeks and has fallen below #25. | | Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles | The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles ranks the top 25 songs that are gaining points to chart inside the Hot 100. The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart can also be seen as a twenty-five position addendum to the Hot 100, but the chart only represents the twenty-five songs below #100 which have not yet appeared on the Hot 100. | | Pop 100 | The Pop 100 ranks songs by combining single sales, airplay and download sales similar to the way the Hot 100 ranks its songs. The Pop 100 was created as an answer to the controversy surrounding the Hot 100 that it was more likely for a Rhythmic song to reach number-one than a Pop or Rock song. | | Pop 100 Airplay | The Pop 100 Airplay measures mainstream radio airplay and is one of the three component charts of the Pop 100. | | Hot Digital Songs | The Hot Digital Songs ranks the top-selling digital singles. The chart combines different versions of songs for a summarized figure. It is one of the three component charts of the Hot 100 and Pop 100. | | Hot Digital Tracks | The Hot Digital Track ranks digital singles like Hot Digital Songs. However, this chart lists different versions of songs that have been sold. |
R&B/Hip-Hop
| Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs is a chart used to track the success of popular music songs in urban or primarily African-American venues. It is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. It lists the most popular R&B and hip hop songs, calculated weekly by combining Airplay from Urban AC and R&B/Hip-Hop stations and record sales from Urban markets. | | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay is the airplay component chart of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The chart ranks it's songs by combining a series of airplay from various R&B/Hip-Hop Stations. | | Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop | Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop is an airplay chart which uses the same formula as the Mainstream Top 40. Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart is similar to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart both measure the airplay of songs played on Urban stations playing urban music, the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (like the Hot 100 Airplay) measures airplay based on statistical (audience) impressions, while the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart uses the number of total detections (spins) | | Hot Adult R&B Airplay | Hot Adult R&B Airplay ranks its songs by combining the top 40 R&B songs that have received significant Airplay from Urban AC radio stations. | | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales is the sales component chart of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It is not the R&B subset of Hot 100 Singles Sales, but rather a separate panel of sales of commercial singles in the urban market. Due to the decline of standard commercial CD singles for the urban market, the chart is most often filled with the sales of 12" Maxi Singles, a format popular in urban markets. | | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrents | The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ranks R&B/Hip-Hop songs that have fallen below #50 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and have been on that chart for over 20 weeks. | | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay | The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay ranks the songs that have fallen below #25 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and have been on that chart for over 20 weeks. | | Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles | The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles ranks the top 25 singles gaining poins to debut inside the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The top 25 posisitions are the twenty-five space below the one-hundred point on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. | | Hot Rap Tracks | The Hot Rap Tracks ranks the top 25 Hip-Hop/Rap songs by combining airplay on Rhythmic and Urban AC radio stations and Single Sales from Hip-Hop focused markets. |
Adult/Mainstream
| Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Top 40 Mainstream | Top 40 Mainstream (often also called Mainstream Top 40) is an airplay chart based on the number of total detections (spins) on Contemporary hit radio stations. | | Rhythmic Top 40 | Rhythmic Top 40, also known as Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio and Rhythmic Crossover, is a music radio format that includes of a mix of dance, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and R&B hits. While most rhythmic stations' playlists comprise that mentioned above, there are some tend to lean very urban with current hip hop, urban pop and R&B hits that gain mainstream appeal. The chart corresponds to what is played on Rhythmic radio stations, based on airplay spins. | | Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks | Adult Top 40 is a format which is an airplay chart based on the number of total detections (spins) on Hot adult contemporary stations. | | Top 40 Adult Recurrents | The Top 40 Adult Recurrents ranks the songs that have fallen below #20 on the Adult Top 40 and have been on the chart for over 20 weeks. | | Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks ranks the most popular songs which include adult contemporary and pop songs played on lite-pop and adult contemporary radio stations across the United States. | | Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents | The Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents ranks songs that have fallen below the twenty position on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and have been on the chart for over twenty weeks, but are still receiving significant Airplay. |
Country
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot Country Songs | The Hot Country Songs is a 60-position chart which lists the most popular country songs, calculated weekly by airplay. | | Hot Country Single Sales | The Hot Country Single Sales ranks the top selling commercial singles in the Country market. | | Hot Country Recurrents | The Hot Country Recurrents ranks songs that have fallen below the #10 on the Hot Country Songs and have been on the chart for over 20 weeks. |
Rock
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Mainstream Rock Tracks | Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music but are not modern rock (i.e. alternative), which are counted in the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The two charts were formed in 1988 when Billboard split its album-oriented rock chart to reflect the increased specialization in radio station formats. Songs that charted on the AOR chart prior to this date are considered to have charted on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. | Modern Rock Tracks | Modern Rock Tracks ranks the forty most-played songs on modern rock radio, most of which are alternative rock songs. The chart was introduced as a companion to the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and its creation was prompted by the explosion of alternative music on American radio in the late 1980s. | | | Triple A Tracks is a music chart which lists the forty most-played songs on Adult album alternative (also known as "Triple A") radio most of which are alternative rock songs that skew towards an older audience. It is a companion to both the Adult Top 40 and Modern Rock Tracks charts. Billboard Radio Monitor had published a chart since the early 2000s until the publication merged with Radio & Records. Billboard itself published its first chart on July 10, 2008. |
Dance
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot Dance Club Play | The Hot Dance Club Play is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs. It is compiled by Billboard exclusively from playlists submitted by nightclub disc jockeys who must apply and meet certain criteria to become "Billboard-reporting DJs. | | Hot Dance Airplay | Hot Dance Airplay is a monitored dance music radio chart which came about as a result of the small but influential impact of dance music on the radio in the United States and the stations that program it. | | Hot Dance Singles Sales | Hot Dance Singles Sales (formerly known as Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales) is a chart which measures the sale of commercially released singles in the dance music market, including remixes. It was formerly known as Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, when the chart was restricted to sales of the 12" Maxi Single and CD Maxi Single format, but in recent years, singles only released in the CD Single format have apparently been counted too. | | Global Dance Tracks | Global Dance Tracks is a weekly international survey of the songs that are most popular in dance clubs globally. It is compiled by Billboard exclusively from playlists submitted by nightclub disc jockeys who must apply and meet certain criteria to become "Billboard-reporting DJs. |
Latin
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot Latin Songs | The Hot Latin Songs (a.k.a Hot Latin Tracks) is a weekly music chart for Spanish language singles in the American music market. It was established by the magazine in the 1970s, when music labels and Billboard realized that Spanish-language songs had a great potential to the American audiences. The chart is based on airplay on Latin music stations. Songs on the chart are not necessarily in Spanish language. | | Hot Latin Pop Airplay | The Hot Latin Pop Airplay is a weekly monitored Latin pop music radio chart which ranks the most played Latin pop songs on Latin music stations. It was established by the magazine in the 1994. This chart is not released to the public. | | Hot Latin Regional Mexican Airplay | The Latin Regional Mexican Airplay is a weekly chart which ranks Regional Mexican music information from diferent genres like Mariachi, Norteņo, Banda and Duranguense. This chart is based on Airplay; the radio charts are compiled using information tracked by from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. It was established by the magazine in the 1994. This chart is not released to the public. | | Hot Latin Tropical Airplay | The Hot Latin Tropical Airplay (a.k.a. Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay) is a weekly monitored chart which ranks Tropical music information from diferent genres like Merengue, Salsa, Guaracha and others on Latin music stations. It was established by the magazine in the 1994. This chart is not released to the public. | | Hot Latin Rhythm Airplay | The Latin Rhythm Airplay chart comprises singles and tracks from artists who represent the Hispanic rhythmic/Hurban genre including Reggaeton, Hispanic R&B/Hip-Hop, Rhythmic Pop/Dance and crossovers from English-language and/or bilingual acts. This chart came about as a result of radio stations tapping into the growing second and third generation Hispanic audience who wanted a Spanish-speaking or bilingual alternative to the formats that they felt would represent them. It was established by the magazine in the 1994. This chart is not released to the public. | |
Christian
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot Christian Songs | The Hot Christian Songs ranks the top selling Gospel/Christian music in the Christian market. | | Hot Christian Adult Contemporary | The Hot Christian Adult Contemporary ranks Christian music that are receiving significant Airplay on Christian/Gospel radio stations. | | Hot Gospel Songs | The Hot Gospel Songs ranks the top Gospel songs combining Airplay, Download Sales Commercial Single Sales, although week-to-week this chart is similar to the Hot Christian Songs, but is more built up of Rhythmic and Urban AC Artists. |
Ringtones
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Hot Ringtones | The Hot Ringtones is a weekly chart that first appeared in the November 6, 2004 issue of Billboard. The chart comprises forty positions, and the songs are ranked by the weekly sales of their polyphonic ringtones for mobile phones. The chart is compiled by Nielsen Mobile. The data is collected from all major ringtone distributors and wireless carriers and represents over 90% market share. | | Hot RingMasters | The Hot RingMasters is a weekly chart that first appeared just recently on December 1, 2006. The chart is compiled by Nielsen Mobile. The chart comprises forty positions, and the songs are ranked by the weekly sales of their master ringtones for mobile phones. | | Hot Videoclips | The Hot Videoclips ranks the top 25 most popular music videos according to digital sales and TV Airplay on channels such as TRL and 106 & Park. |
Jazz
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Smooth Jazz Songs | The Smooth Jazz Songs ranks the top Jazz songs by consisting of mostly tracking by Airplay and Download Sales, the chart is not released to the public. | | Smooth Jazz Airplay | The Smooth Jazz Airplay ranks the top most played Jazz gendered music on the Radio by only using Airplay to track down the songs, the chart is not released to the public. |
Non-U.S. charts
| Billboard Chart Title | Description |
|---|
| Canadian Hot 100 | The Canada Hot 100 is the Canadian music industry standard singles popularity chart. It is used to replace Canadian Singles Chart. The chart is based on ariplay and digital downloads. | | Canada Hot Digital Singles | The Canada Hot Digital Singles ranks the best selling digital singles in Canada. | | Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | The Eurochart Hot 100 Singles ranks the best selling singles in Europe by combining sales from various countries in Europe. | | Japan Hot 100 | The Japan Hot 100 ranks the best selling singles and tracks in Japan. | | Philippines Top 70 Billboard Chart | The Philippines Top 70 Billboard Chart ranks the most listened to foreign and domestic singles in the Philippines. | | Turkey Top 20 Chart | Turkey Top 20 Chart ranks the best selling and the most listening foreign singles and tracks in Turkey. | | Turkish Top 20 Chart | Turkish Top 20 Chart ranks the best selling and the most listening Turkish singles and tracks in Turkey. | | Turkish Rock Top 20 Chart | Turkey Top 20 Chart ranks the best selling and the most listening Turkish rock singles and tracks in Turkey. |
Albums
The Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a listing of the 200 highest selling music albums in the United States, published weekly in Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a musical group will be remembered by its "number ones", those of their albums that outsold all others during at least one week. The chart was first known as Top Pop Albums from the mid-1950s until 1983 when it changed its name to the Billboard 200.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
Top Rock Albums
Top Hard Rock Albums
Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums
Top Country Albums
Bluegrass Top 50
Top Bluegrass Albums
Top Bluegrass Albums is a fifteen position chart published at the end of the year that ranks the top Bluegrass albums in the United States.
Top Electronic Albums
Top Electronic Albums is a twenty-five position albums chart published weekly which ranks the top selling electronic music albums in the United States.
Top Independent Albums
Top Pop Catalog Albums
Top Pop Catalog Albums is a weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine which ranks the best selling catalog titles, regardless of genre. Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than two years old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200. Albums meeting these criteria are removed from the Billboard 200 and begin a new chart run on Top Pop Catalog Albums.
Top Latin Albums
Latin Pop Albums
Top Regional Mexican Albums
Top Tropical Albums
Top Latin Rhythmic Albums
Top Compilation Albums
Top Cast Albums
Top Cast Albums is a chart that was added to Billboard's listings January 12, 2006, measuring sales of cast recordings.
Top Classical Albums
Top Classical Crossover Albums
Top Classical Budget Albums
Top Classical Midline Albums
Top Holiday Albums
- see Best-selling Christmas/Holiday albums in the United States
Top Canadian Albums
Top Blues Albums
Top Christian Albums
Top Contemporary Jazz
Top Gospel Albums
Top Jazz Albums
Top Kid Audio
Top Kid Audio chart records the sales of children's music albums. In order to be eligible to chart, the album has to be marketed and meant for kids.
Top New Age Albums
Top Reggae Albums
Top World Music Albums
Billboard Top World Music Albums is a weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine that ranks the biggest selling albums in the world regardless of the product's age or method of sales.
Albums which are over two years old (from the date of release) and have dropped below position 100 on The Billboard 200 are removed from that chart and placed on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart.
Billboard Top World Music Albums includes any album, old or new, sold anywhere.
Billboard Top World Music Albums is not published in the print edition of Billboard magazine. Instead, it can be viewed via paid subscription to Billboard's online service.
European Top 100 Albums
Top Soundtracks
Billboard Comprehensive Albums
Billboard Comprehensive Albums is a weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine that ranks the biggest selling albums in the United States regardless of the product's age or method of sales.
Albums which are over two years old (from the date of release) and have dropped below position 100 on The Billboard 200 are removed from that chart and placed on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart.
Billboard Comprehensive Albums includes any album, old or new, sold anywhere. Generally, the Billboard Comprehensive Albums is nearly identical to the Billboard 200, with the exception of approximately twenty to thirty "catalog" albums that still sell well enough to be one of the top 200-selling albums in any given week.
Billboard Comprehensive Albums is not published in the print edition of Billboard magazine. Instead, it can be viewed via paid subscription to Billboard's online service.
Top Internet Albums
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers is a weekly albums chart introduced by Billboard magazine in 1993 whose purpose is to highlight sales by new and developing musical recording artists. Albums appearing on Top Heatseekers may also concurrently appear on The Billboard 200.
Top Heatseekers contains fifty chart positions. Although the chart's policies have changed slightly over the years, its current rules for an album's eligibility to enter Top Heatseekers are as follows (per Billboard):
"The best-selling albums by new and developing acts, defined as those who have never appeared in the top 100 of The Billboard 200. If a Heatseekers title reaches that level, it and the act's subsequent albums are immediately ineligible to appear on the Heatseekers chart."
Heatseekers/East North Central
Heatseekers/Mountain
Heatseekers/Northeast
Heatseekers/Pacific
Heatseekers/South Atlantic
Heatseekers/South Central
Heatseekers/West North Central
Top Rock Albums
Tastemakers
Home videos
Top VHS Sales
Top Video Rentals
Top DVD Sales
Top Video Game Rentals
Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos
Top Video Sales - Health & Fitness
Top Video Sales - Recreational Sports DVD
Further reading
- Durkee, Rob. "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century." Schriner Books, New York City, 1999.
- Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem The 1970s."
Authorhouse.com, January 31, 2005. ISBN 1-4184-1070-5.
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