Billboard A/C chart - From 40 to 30

[dawhite76]

This week, Billboard has reduced its A/C chart from 40 to 30 positions. Not too surprising ... were any of the songs ranked 31 - 40 even getting 100 spins per week? Regardless, it is yet further proof how insanely stagnant this format has become.

[Pulse]

Sort of makes sense. Thats how we had songs like SOS charting on the Billboard chart LMAO.

[johnm1120]

The top 40 plus the purge of recurrents at Christmas time resulted in I Believe in You reaching #31!!!

[Hervard]

chbigemi said:

The top 40 plus the purge of recurrents at Christmas time resulted in I Believe in You reaching #31!!!

Don Williams returned to the chart after 25 years???

[mst3k]

ulij20 said:

chbigemi said:

The top 40 plus the purge of recurrents at Christmas time resulted in I Believe in You reaching #31!!!

Don Williams returned to the chart after 25 years???

No, it was Johnnie Taylor's version (which had been bubbling under since 1973).

[Arson]

I've never liked the Billboard AC chart due to its recurrent rules. A top 30 with a decent recurrent rule (like in R&R) was better.

I agree the chart is stagnant, though.

[Pulse]

mst3k1 said:

ulij20 said:

Don Williams returned to the chart after 25 years???

No, it was Johnnie Taylor's version (which had been bubbling under since 1973).

Bubbling under for over 30 years? LMAO!

[dawhite76]

Don't laugh ... most of the songs on the Recurrents chart are probably getting more airplay weekly than many current hits. When "I'm Feeling You" fell out of the Top 15 recently, it qualified for Recurrent status. It has yet to chart there, though. Unless there was a substantial erosion in its airplay, that meant all 20 charted recurrent hits were gaining more airplay than a current Top 15 hit. Does A/C really need to play 23 year old "Every Breath You Take" or 15 year old "Something To Talk About," which appear regularly on Billboard's Recurrents chart, as often as they do?

[Hervard]

Well, there's nothing wrong with playing those songs, as overplayed as they are, but there really should be some sort of a cutoff rule for the recurrent chart. Clearly, songs like "Every Breath You Take", "Open Arms", and "Something To Talk About" don't belong on the recurrent chart. R&R used to have a cutoff rule like that, though they seemed to randomly purge the recurrent chart every now and then. But, with the Top Five recurrent rule, there seems to be more of a turnover rate on the recurrent chart, so songs don't stick around forever and a day anymore. But I feel that once a song has been recurrent for two or three years, it should be removed from recurrent and a Gold chart should be implemented if they feel that those overplayed songs need to be listed anywhere.

Seriously - a song from 1973 hit #31 on the AC chart, or did Aaron forget to put a winkyface after his post?

[dawhite76]

The "I Believe In You" that recently peaked at #31 was Il Divo's collaboration with Celine Dion.

Limiting the Recurrent chart to songs that are, say, less than 5 years old would just hide the fact that older tunes like "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" are still being played more than current product. There's nothing wrong with playing older hits. It would be nice, though, if A/C could broaden its playlists so that you don't hear "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" more often today than when it initially charted 15 years ago. It's unfortunate that radio programmers think their listeners only want to hear the same 100 songs over and over again.

[Arson]

dawhite76 said:

Limiting the Recurrent chart to songs that are, say, less than 5 years old would just hide the fact that older tunes like "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" are still being played more than current product. 

It won't hide the fact if you are able to access the Gold chart to see the songs' spin totals.

If the Recurrent chart wasn't so cluttered with Golds, you can better compare more recent hits, vs. gold favorites. I know when I'm looking at the Recurrent chart, I am looking for the songs that have recently been removed from the chart and whether they are maintaining their spins.

I agree with your point that certain Golds are overplayed, though. I don't like how AC discards certain recurrents after a while, not to mention songs that don't stick around long enough to reach recurrent status.

[mst3k]

ulij20 said:

Seriously - a song from 1973 hit #31 on the AC chart, or did Aaron forget to put a winkyface after his post?

Since when does anyone take anything I say seriously? ;)

[smack]

How do u know it's been reduced to 30....I think they are just publishing the top 30. Crazy moved from 33 to 28 this week.

[mst3k]

smack said:

How do u know it's been reduced to 30....I think they are just publishing the top 30.  Crazy moved from 33 to 28 this week.

The chart reduction was announced a couple of weeks ago. Songs below #30 are in the "New & Active" section (of R&R... doubt that Billboard itself will show "N&A").

[dawhite76]

This is becoming bizarre ... the published chart is only 30 positions. Yet, the 8/19 chart does show songs within the Top 30 that have risen from positions below the Top 30 like "Crazy" and "Put Your Records On." Why are they not considered debuts if last week's chart was also only 30 positions? You would think that if the actual AC chart was indeed more than 30 positions, Billboard's subscribers would have access to the entire chart, not just the first 30 positions.

[Arson]

dawhite76 said:

You would think that if the actual AC chart was indeed more than 30 positions, Billboard's subscribers would have access to the entire chart, not just the first 30 positions.

BDS tracks how many times every song is played, so it would definitely have all the songs ranked below the top 30. The question is whether anyone is allowed to see it (even subscribers).

[JCMF3]

I think I better return to publishing the Sans Recurrent Rules Charts! ;)