Billboard to shift charting week after album release shift

[peacebone]

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6605842/billboard-alter-chart-tracking-week-global-release-date

Starting July 10 (which is the date that albums will begin coming out on Fridays, instead of the current Tuesdays), Billboard will change the chart reporting period to Friday-Thursday, as opposed to the current Monday-Sunday period. Streaming services will also be tracked Friday-Thursday. All charts will be refreshed Tuesday mornings beginning on July 14th.

[Caviar]

This is a good move.

There will be an 11 day tracking period as a result of the new shift.

To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

[HolidayGuy]

So, there still be a difference in the tracking period for audience-based radio charts and sales charts- only now, it's a three-day difference.

[Kurt]

Weird technical question that maybe can't be answered: will the eleven-day July 25 chart have the longest data range for one Billboard chart ever?

[Glove Slap]

That's fine. It's an effective method of continuity.

[trebor]

Jun 24, 2015 15:08:26 GMT -5 Kurt said:

Weird technical question that maybe can't be answered: will the eleven-day July 25 chart have the longest data range for one Billboard chart ever?

In the pre-Soundscan era there were no post Christmas charts and thus the tracking week resulted in 14 days; so to speak from a purely technical point of view.
Some genre charts that now are issued on a weekly basis, existed as bi-monthly updates in the past; so technically it's 14 days here as well.

[felipe]

Why are albums release dates changing to Friday? Will that go for singles as well?

[funguy10]

 All I want at this point, is that the changes to the tracking week data will make the top 10 FINALLY change up a lot more.

[chartfreak]

Jun 24, 2015 21:18:02 GMT -5 funguy10 said:

 All I want at this point, is that the changes to the tracking week data will make the top 10 FINALLY change up a lot more.

Why would the tracking week change this?

What I like is how award shows on Sundays, the sales effect won't be so split.

[areyoureadytojump]

Good move Billboard!

I like that the charts will be out on Tuesdays now.

Billboard publishes a lot of chart articles on Fridays and I think they get lost since the news cycle ends Friday afternoon.

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6605847/billboard-to-alter-chart-tracking-week-for-global-release-date

More info:

In response to the IFPI's global release date announcement, Billboard and Nielsen Music will adjust the tracking weeks for most Billboard charts. Concurrently, Billboard's rankings, including the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100, and associated analytical stories, will shift their posting dates on Billboard.com.

Starting July 10, the official street date for all new album releases will be Friday (instead of the current Tuesday) in the United States. For all sales-based charts (ranking both albums and tracks), Billboard and Nielsen will change the chart reporting period to cover the first seven days of an album's release. This will result in an adjusted sales period of Friday to Thursday, as opposed to the Monday to Sunday cycle that has been utilized since the advent of Nielsen Music's point-of-sales tracking in 1991.

Streaming services will now also be tracked from Friday to Thursday for the charts that incorporate that data.

(The final charts utilizing sales data from a Monday to Sunday cycle (June 29 through July 5) will post on Billboard.com on Thursday, July 9, and will be dated July 18. To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

BILLBOARD 200 & ALL SALES, STREAMING CHARTS
All surveys ranking album sales, digital song sales and streams will run on a Friday to Thursday cycle. That covers the all-format Billboard 200 and Top Albums Sales album charts, genre-based album charts, Digital Songs and genre-based download charts and Streaming Songs and genre-focused streaming surveys.

BILLBOARD HOT 100 & GENRE HYBRID SONGS, AIRPLAY CHARTS
All radio charts, including the all-format Radio Songs chart and genre tallies, will run on a Monday to Sunday cycle. Notably, Radio Songs, which informs the Hot 100, will synch up to that Monday to Sunday period after formerly encompassing each Wednesday to Tuesday.

The Hot 100 and all other "Hot"-monikered genre songs charts (for country, R&B/Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, rock, dance, Latin, Christian and gospel) utilizing the Hot 100's sales/streaming/airplay hybrid formula will now incorporate the following tracking schedule for their components:

SALES: Friday to Thursday
STREAMS: Friday to Thursday
AIRPLAY: Monday to Sunday

Why is airplay on its own cycle apart from sales and streaming? Monitored radio data from Nielsen Music is readily available on a real-time basis, as opposed to sales and streaming data, which filters in from numerous data providers over multiple days. So, by incorporating the latest available airplay data, the Hot 100 will remain as up-to-date as possible each week

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND TIMING OF NEW WEEKLY CHARTS

What does all this mean for Billboard.com readers?

The shift in the sales tracking week related to the new global release date will result in adjustments to when our charts, and charts-based editorial content, will be finalized and presented on Billboard.com. All charts will be refreshed each Tuesday morning on Billboard.com starting July 14 (as opposed to the current Thursday). As has historically been the case, Billboard's charts are post-dated to the second Saturday following online posting (now 11 days later). So, charts that go live on Tuesday, July 14, will be dated July 25.

[85la]

I can see why they would do this, in order to match up with the new global release date, but what bothers me is that the "official chart date" is even further away from the period it is actually measuring, and the period does not correspond to a traditional week, which is Sunday-Saturday in most cases. Sometimes Monday-Sunday can be considered a week, as they were doing before,but not Friday-Thursday. And the fact that airplay will still follow a different tracking period than sales and streaming is even more confusing and doesn't make sense.

[kanimal]

Jun 25, 2015 11:01:26 GMT -5 85la said:

I can see why they would do this, in order to match up with the new global release date, but what bothers me is that the "official chart date" is even further away from the period it is actually measuring, and the period does not correspond to a traditional week, which is Sunday-Saturday in most cases. Sometimes Monday-Sunday can be considered a week, as they were doing before,but not Friday-Thursday. And the fact that airplay will still follow a different tracking period than sales and streaming is even more confusing and doesn't make sense.

They kind of address this in the article (BDS airplay measurement is accurate in real-time, whereas they need a few days to tabulate sales/streaming totals), but I'm with you in the sense that it seems completely illogical to run different measurements.

However, there is some upside to the new methodology.  Now, Radio Songs will align with the individual format airplay charts, which is how it should be.  It's always bothered me that a song could hit its peak on the pop or country airplay chart but actually decline on the same week's Radio Songs chart.

[85la]

Jun 24, 2015 17:02:28 GMT -5 felipe said:

Why are albums release dates changing to Friday? Will that go for singles as well?

Good question about singles, which also begs the question of when songs will be sent to radio. It seems it would make the most sense that songs would both go on sale and be sent to radio on Friday, in which case the debuting weeks will look much as they do now.

[The Upper Hand]

(The final charts utilizing sales data from a Monday to Sunday cycle (June 29 through July 5) will post on Billboard.com on Thursday, July 9, and will be dated July 18. To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

Can anyone explain me this? In my understanding, it means there will be double-counting.

[Spidey]

Jun 30, 2015 20:19:45 GMT -5 The Upper Hand said:

(The final charts utilizing sales data from a Monday to Sunday cycle (June 29 through July 5) will post on Billboard.com on Thursday, July 9, and will be dated July 18. To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

Can anyone explain me this? In my understanding, it means there will be double-counting.

Basically from what I gathered, they will use the data from the June 29-July 5 frame twice, but only counted once for overall sales purposes.

For example, let's say a song sells 130,000 from June 29 - July 5 and then it sells 80,000 from July 6 - July 9.

July 18th chart = 130,000
July 25th chart = 130,000+80,000
Total sales = 130,000+80,000 and not 130,000+130,000+80,000

So the sales would be used twice, but they won't be doubling the sales from the July 18th chart in terms of overall sales. They are just using them to compile the following chart.

I hope this made sense lol.

[Libra]

Unless the 11-day cycle is actually Monday, July 6 through Thursday, July 16, and they simply mentioned the wrong data period in the article?

[Spidey]

Jul 1, 2015 13:12:53 GMT -5 Libra said:

Unless the 11-day cycle is actually Monday, July 6 through Thursday, July 16, and they simply mentioned the wrong data period in the article?

The chart is being posted on Tuesday, July 14. The sales tracking period would end Thursday, July 9 and the radio period would end Sunday, July 12. Top 10/Billboard 200 articles posted Monday, July 13. The full charts would then be released on the 14th.

[Libra]

Jul 1, 2015 12:59:09 GMT -5 Spidey said:

Jun 30, 2015 20:19:45 GMT -5 The Upper Hand said:

(The final charts utilizing sales data from a Monday to Sunday cycle (June 29 through July 5) will post on Billboard.com on Thursday, July 9, and will be dated July 18. To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

Can anyone explain me this? In my understanding, it means there will be double-counting.

Basically from what I gathered, they will use the data from the June 29-July 5 frame twice, but only counted once for overall sales purposes.

For example, let's say a song sells 130,000 from June 29 - July 5 and then it sells 80,000 from July 6 - July 9.

July 18th chart = 130,000
July 25th chart = 130,000+80,000
Total sales = 130,000+80,000 and not 130,000+130,000+80,000

So the sales would be used twice, but they won't be doubling the sales from the July 18th chart in terms of overall sales. They are just using them to compile the following chart.

I hope this made sense lol.

Effectively, while it's not double-counting in the sense of counting sales from one time period twice, it absolutely is double-counting in the sense of utilizing sales from one time period to contribute to two separate weeks' charts.