Charting Roots

[kingLUKE22]

I know a lot of you guys on the board have been doing your charts for years. I'm guessing you were inspired by old countdown shows like the American Top 40, or Rick Dees even.

I've been doing my chart for eight years now, which seems incredible to me. 1997 just doesn't feel that long ago. Rather than the traditional radio shows, my chart fanatic days began with introduction of the internet at home. I remember that we got the internet in 1996 when I was just 13 years old. We had a phone line modem connection through Prodigy, and I was hooked. I've always been the kind of person to get infatuated with songs, and find one in particular to become obsessed over every now and then. At 13 in 1996, it was Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever." If I had had a chart around when that song orginially debuted, I'm convinced that it would still hold the record for most weeks at #1. So I would go online to find as much information on the song as I could possibly find, which led me to the wonderful world of internet charts.

It's so interesting to me to think back and remember the first charts that influenced me, and got me interested in making my own. The very first chart page I discovered was called HITSWORLD. They had a weekly chart composed of other internet charters, along with a links page where the charters could post their sites for everyone to look at. I remember I even signed up for the weekly mailer which went to my e-mail address at Juno... so old school. It wasn't long after that that Luke Sounds was officially born on March 10th, 1997. It  was originally a top 10, and the first three charts or so had some rogue 80's songs on it because I hadn't fined tuned my system yet, and knew little about the rules of current songs. I'd have to go back and double check, but I believe Chris DeBurgh's "Lady In Red" was in the top 5 that first week. I still have all those old charts in a folder, and I plan on having every one of them online someday.

Somewhere along the line, HITSWORLD fizzled out, and I next came across Top Hits Online, which looks nothing like it does now, and was originally composed of a much smaller chart bank. I was so excited to be contributing my favorite songs every week, and seeing point gains for songs I liked because of my additions. It became an obsession. From there came MUSICGAMES, which is now MUSICDAYS I think, comprised by our own chibengio. Other charts I strongly remember were: The Furious 44 (And then Some), The CMG Weekly Top 40, The Arc (of course,) Pete Phelon's Chart, Bradboard... Most of these are now defunct, of course, but I can't help but wonder if those guys are still as into music as they once were.

So anyway, what are your stories? What do you remember from your early days of charting?

[Libra]

I started the AC Top 40 from a desire to combine the Billboard Hot 100 with the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. At the time, I had been following the Hot 100 weekly for some months up until then, and I had been an avid listener to the Weekly Top 40 for a bit longer than that. So I wanted to see what the result would be if I combined the two charts, using the formula I still use today. I joined the R&R board in July 2001 and soon learned just what a fallacy the Weekly Top 40 really was...but as the only other chart that went to 40 or more was American Top 40, which didn't post its chart online on a regular basis at the time, I kept using the Weekly Top 40. Then in March 2002 came the week that R&R expanded the length of the chart they posted online to 50, and I not only abandoned using the Weekly Top 40 for good, but also expanded my chart to a Top 50.

I started my Top 10 chart shortly after starting the AC Top 40 just to have a chart of my favorite songs. Of course, at the time, that meant songs that I had downloaded or had on a CD. By the middle of November 2001, I grew tired with the chart, not to mention I was running out of downloaded songs to chart. So, I discontinued the chart. Then, in March of 2002, I restarted the chart, only without the must-have-a-copy-of-the-song rule.[/font]

[dragoneyez]

The inspiration to begin charting came in early 2001. I had had the internet in my house for some time before that, but in early '01 I discovered Billboard and its website and began following my favorite songs up the chart to see how successful they became. Also, I watched the VH1 Top 20 almost every week in those days.

In March of that year I did my first chart, a top twenty, which basically looked like VH1's top twenty, with some older songs (from 2000) mixed in. After the first week, I lost interest. For some reason, I started again in May of the same year, this time with a top fifty. Since summer came, I had available time to continue doing the chart.

The first year of having the chart, I was really into it. Contributing my chart to various compilations (AlaskaJim is one I remember) and making predictions about how far a song could rise up the chart before fizzling out.

In the past four years, the chart has really followed who I have been as a person; my changing tastes, etc. When it started out, most of the songs were what was popular on local radio or Billboard. I'd like to think my tastes have matured (doubt it lol). Though I've lost interest in it (first dropping from 50 positions to 40, then 30), I still continue out of habit. Plus it's not hard to do and tends to relax me. After a trying day, I can whip out a top 30 of the songs I'm feeling and calm myself in the process.

With college and job(s) on the horizon, I'm not sure if I will want to/will be able to continue with the chart, but it's certainly been a fun and telling experience.

[Love Plastic Love]

Wow, you guys have such long, intelligent roots.
Mine was basically that I really love charts and recording things. I like to record and tabulate data-it soothes my nerves. So combining my recording data love and musical charts was the perfect combination for a hobby. And it started the first week of January 2004 (Im a newbie!)

[agon666]

Point said:

Wow, you guys have such long, intelligent roots.
Mine was basically that I really love charts and recording things. I like to record and tabulate data-it soothes my nerves. So combining my recording data love and musical charts was the perfect combination for a hobby. And it started the first week of January 2004 (Im a newbie!)

Exactly! My parents used to always yell at me, because I would write down useless data on paper that I thought I would use later. My junk drawers always used to be filled with paper with random things on them. I'm more organized now, and I love my charts!

[kellydicted]

The idea of having my own chart seemed so cool to me - like a music diary.

[chartfanatic]

Influences
One of my first influences in making a personal chart is discovering the Billboard charts. In 1998, I was really into 80's music mostly exclusively. This is also the first year that I started buying secular music; before, all of the music I've bought was CCM or Christian Heavy Metal. So, as I was discovering "new" (like the old NBC slogan, "if I haven't [heard] it, it's new to me" but really it's old 80's) music from the 80's, I really wanted to discover the music. So, I was in the bookstore one day, I discovered a book of Billboard Top 40 Hits. It had complete top 40 chart data. So, I started reading the book and got more interested in Billboard. Then, I discovered Billboard.com and started to follow their Hot 100.

Another influence (which is sort of embarrassing, maybe) was the MMC (New Mickey Mouse Club) show that used to air on the Disney Channel. It was a show that I watched all the time as a preteen, and for those of you who don't exactly what it is, it's a SNL-style sketch show featuring music and skits. Of course, much press has been made how the alums have become big music stars: Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, etc. To most people's perspectives, they were new, but to my perspective, it was surreal to see these people become big stars as I never expected them to when I was watching the show back in the day. Since I had a semi-personal connection with these stars, it seems to rejuvenated my interest in popular music. Even though I love 90's music now, I perceived a lot of the music of the 90's to be "overly moody" and "boring" back then.

Starting The Chart
My chart's original purpose was to become a "replacement" for the Billboard Hot 100. When I was looking at the Hot 100, I thought to myself that I could do a better job ranking the songs. So, that's basically how it started: just ranking songs based on my personal preference. In the early years of the chart (1999-2001), a lot of music that was seen on my chart was related to what I saw on TRL, one of my favorite shows at the time. If you look at my archives, you can really see the connection.

I kept the chart a secret for a long time and I didn't tell anyone about it. In 2002, I started discovering that a lot of people were doing them as well. One of the previous posters ("dragoneyez") in this thread specifically inspired me to put my chart online after I saw what a great job he did with his. So, I put the chart online in August 2002 and registered a domain (www.chartfanatic.com) in November 2002.

The Chart's Legacy
As most of you probably can relate, I've experience symptoms of "chart burnout." It can be a feeling of not wanting to do it or just being tired of the music that's out there. There were some times when I wanted to give up the chart  and not continue. I've had a chart for 300+ consecutive weeks now and I'm not intending to stop now. The main reason why "chart burnout" doesn't affect the stoppage of my chart is the continuity. I know that if I quit during the chart, I will want to come back to do it at a later time. It's important to me to catalog songs at a certain point of time so I can be nostalgic about it later. Having a personal music chart is great way to accurately portray what I thought was a "good song" when the song came out.

I enjoy during my personal music chart. I try to mix it up sometimes just to keep it interesting. Sometimes, it may be a slow chart with longevity and sometimes it could be a fast chart with a lot of movement. Most of the times, it's a combination of both. I try to make it an honest chart and not tailor to anybody else's music taste or to what's hot in the mainstream. I also make it with a futuristic perspective. I ask myself the question of "will the song be good in 10 years" or something like that. I especially apply that concept to number one songs because ultimately it's the number ones that are the representative songs of your chart and its legacy.

I really like to log a lot of my chart in different ways. I have all my charts online (as they appeared) from 2003; I have an archive of complete top ten charts that I'm almost on the verge of getting up to date; I have a complete peaks list of top ten songs; I have an complete (2003-present) archive of artist history with notes below the songs...and more. I'm also trying to do different features to make it interesting for people to go to the site.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

[kingLUKE22]

"Chart Burnout" is one of the things I'm most dissapointed about with my countdown. In the last week of 2000, I just decided that music was boring and I lost all drive to chart anymore. Luke Sounds went on a hiatus from the first week of 2001 until October of 2002, which is a huge shame. These years were my high school grauate and college freshmen years. I've thought about going back and filling in the missing time, but I know it wouldn't even be close to accurate. So if you love you chart, don't let a boring music spell get you down. You'll regret it.

[dragoneyez]

Great to see you still around Oliver. Checked out you chart; some awesome songs.

And ditto to the "chart burnout" thing. I've really been feeling that lately, but as long as I know at least 10 good songs, I hope to continue doing the chart. Been doing it too long to stop now.

[mst3k]

Started my chart in March 1989, influenced by the radio station playlists that Billboard used to print in their mag. In fact, from its inception up until late 2002, I thought of my chart not as a personal chart, but as a sort of fantasy radio playlist. Hence, pretty much every Top 40 pop hit made my chart whether I really liked it or not (obviously my personal favorite songs still performed better than those that I disliked).

I went through some bad personal times in late 2002, and stopped making a chart for several weeks (with the intention of giving it up permanently). Finally, I decided to restart it, this time as a true personal chart. And that's where it stands today. :)

As with some of you others, I was very private about my chart in the early days, showing it to only a couple friends who asked what I was doing. I had no idea there were other people out there who were doing the same thing until I first went online back in mid-1991 (on the ancient Prodigy message groups). I finally started posting my charts online in early 2002, not long after Matt started compiling the original R&R 100 chart.

[Deleted]

I'm not going to write a book, but I started with a TRL type of chart in 2000. I had a different #1 every week. Then in 2001, I started with a more formal chart.

[[upsilon]™]

dragoneyez said:

The inspiration to begin charting came in early 2001...Began following my favorite songs up the chart to see how successful they became. Also, I watched the VH1 Top 20 almost every week in those days.

Awesome, same here. It started some afternoon after listening to KTU's 8 @ 8. I actually started doing it on paper, but then began to use Word.

My song limit began at 10 (basically a Top 10 chart) and I eventually kept forgetting to keep track of the songs I charted, which sadly happened to Lifehouse's "Spin". After a few months, I upgraded it to 12 songs, and in the following January began to introduce the Top 15. Every last day of the month after that I would do a Top 20 to chart new releases and I even made a Top 5 least favorite songs called "The Wall of Same".

Two years later I introduced the format I used until around February of this year, Top 20. Now I use Top 25, and I don't plan on upgrading anymore.

Daniel Bedingfield's "Gotta Get Thru This" was my first #1. For like 3 months after I started, my chart was solely dance and rhythmic (since I only listened to KTU at that time).

mst3k said:

As with some of you others, I was very private about my chart in the early days, showing it to only a couple friends who asked what I was doing. I had no idea there were other people out there who were doing the same thing...

Heh, I was the same.

[billcs]

I have a much lengthier experience relating to charts. I was inspired to make charts shortly after buying my own 45's as a youngster. I had various charts over the years, eventually became a college radio station manager and DJ, then stopped it all for a while to settle down and start a family. Once the Net became more accessible in about 1996, I found out about various personal chart internet sites and within a year (Sept 97) started my own chart and eventually website. It's a nice hobby, though a couple of years ago I had to cut back my dedication to it so that family would stay first!

[friday]

OK, here goes nothing.

My first experience with creating my own charts began in September 2000 when I decided to do a radio chart keeping track of pop songs that got played on NYC radio, with the rule that I could exclude any songs I didn't like (i.e. Britney, boy bands, and anything else I saw fit). The reason for said rule was because I was sick of those artists dominating popular culture, and wanted to see a chart where they had no success. It started out as a top 10 chart, which I eventually expanded to 20 positions, although songs would bounce all over the place so I didn't give those charts much heed until it cam time to compile a year-end chart. I gave songs points based on when they were played with more points going to plays coming later in the day. But I eventually gave this up in March 2002 due to lack of interest since I had three different charts going (which I'll explain subsequently).

The second one was what I called the "Composite Top 40". I started it in April 2001 at 25 positions, but I expanded to 40 later on. This one was compiled from various national and local charts such as MTV, VH1, AT40, Rick Dees, Z100 and WPLJ's playlists and eventually the Hot 100 and R&R's HAC and Rhythmic charts, along with a few others. It worked kinda like the Pulse 100, except it was weighted to favor charts with more positions, meaning a 20-spot chart's #1 got 20 points, 40 spots meant 40 pts, 31 spots meant 31 points, etc. with a cutoff at 40 positions. I did this until December of 2002 when I moved out here. By then, I guess I got sick of doing it every week, mainly because I printed out every chart and wound up with a couple reams of paper which now prove to be useless to me. It's too bad I never did a year-end chart for '01 or '02 because now all the files are in my old computer which I can't access. I've thought about bringing it back every now and then just to see what it'd look like, although it certainly wouldn't involve a shitload of paper.

By the way, I applaud you if you haven't gotten fed up and moved on to something else by now. Annnyways, the first experiment with a "personal chart" came in June 2001 when I thought I'd tried my own version of American Top 40 based on what I like. But that only lasted a couple weeks and I threw out the file. Then around October 2001, I was lurking around the Radio and Records message board and saw they had that chart called the "PeopleBase" chart which was kinda like the Pulse 100 except people assigned point values to their songs and always gave point values based on other people's orders. (Aside: I always found it ironic how people would decry the use of payola in radio, yet engaged in that very same tactic for this chart) I decided to try the personal chart thing again so I could influence this chart, but ironically I never submitted a single playlist, and I really don't regret it that much.

OK, new paragraph time. In March of 2002 I got the idea to extend the chart retroactively to the beginning of 2001. Three years later, I still haven't finished, but it's getting there. But things went smoothly until May 2004, when I stopped doing the chart just because it got to be a drag to do every week. I think it was because the chart turnover got to be slower and slower. But in August 2004, I decided to bring the chart up to date, not doing a "current" chart, except for debuts, until I got up to the current week. By December 2004, that was finally taken care of, and things have been OK for now.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully you will get those few minutes you spent reading back somehow. ;)

[Slinky]

I don't have a personal chart right now, but I do browse this forum often and tell myself that I'm going to start one up again soon.  It's so hard to get back into charting once you stop.  It feels very awkward for me to not have a "last week" position.  Perhaps reading and posting in this thread will be the impetus I need to get off my ass and start doing it again.

mst3k said:

I thought of my chart not as a personal chart, but as a sort of fantasy radio playlist. Hence, pretty much every Top 40 pop hit made my chart whether I really liked it or not (obviously my personal favorite songs still performed better than those that I disliked).

That's how mine was from it's inception until it's death in 1999 when I started college, and also from it's resurrection in spring 2000 till 2003.  Mine began after I started listening to the Eagle 106 "top 8@8" and American Top 40 when I was 10.  It started off as a 10-place "request" chart that just reflected my personal tastes in CHR.  Then I started a 20-place chart that was a fantasy AT40 (or CT40) chart.  In late 1994, as the "alternative revolution" took hold of CHR radio, I made a 3rd 30-position chart representing a fantasy CHR/Alt. station. 

From 1995-96, I toyed with the idea of a fantasy rural CHR station that played all the hits.  This was a 40 position chart that I only ranked every couple months, but I kept track of droppers and adds every week.  So I was handling 4 charts at one time, each of them reflecting a slightly different personal taste!  (No, I don't have multiple personalities. )

In 1997, there was some consolidation.  The AT40/CT40-chart was killed off, as was the rural CHR chart.  The "request chart" went from being updated every week to being updated whenever I felt like it.  In their place was a brand-new fantasy top 40, updated every week, that was mostly based off of the R&R CHR chart.  The CHR/Alt. top 30 chart evolved to an Alt. only chart because CHR/Alt. was a dead format.  This continued till 1999 when all the charts were killed off as I went to college.  The fact that I had my first girlfriend around that time also took away a lot of my interest in charts for some reason.

The fantasy top 40 chart was brought back in 2000, but I never bothered to post it on R&R or here because I saw what happened to people whose charts were too close to the R&R versions. ;)  It died in 2003 when I started working full time.

As with some of you others, I was very private about my chart in the early days, showing it to only a couple friends who asked what I was doing. I had no idea there were other people out there who were doing the same thing until I first went online back in mid-1991 (on the ancient Prodigy message groups). I finally started posting my charts online in early 2002, not long after Matt started compiling the original R&R 100 chart.

I had no idea there was so much interest in personal charts, or charts in general until I started reading the R&R boards.  Consequently, I kept my charts VERY secret, not even showing them to my parents or close friends.  I wrote them in tiny letters because I didn't want anyone to see them, and also because I wanted to save paper.

The 1995-99 CHR/Alt. chart was probably the closest I've ever had to a "personal" chart, with odd jumps (I think "She's A River" went from 14-1) and short-lived CHR hits spending a long time at #1 (Human League's "Tell Me When" was there for like 4 weeks, so was Collective Soul's "Gel").  That's probably the format I'll follow if I restart it here. 

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

I began charting four weeks ago. I just felt I should start posting it, and I did.

Mine's based on what I am listening to the most and what I am liking. That doesn't mean I have to have an mp3 or CD of what I am liking.

[KikiMets]

It's quite interesting to read about what inspired you guys to create your charts. I'm thinking of starting a chart of my own soon-I'll probably wait until I start my summer job, since I'll have the radio on all day and will be exposed to music on a regular basis.

[Nicholas2.0]

Inspired by my first month or two of tracking Casey's Top 40 almost exactly 13 years ago, I decided to make a Top 40 of my own favorite songs.  Only I thought a weekly chart would be too demanding/dull, so I started out with a monthly chart.  Only as time went on, I kept advancing the dates more and more until sometime a year later, I just said, "The hell with this, I'm making a weekly chart."

But for the first 3 years or so, it wasn't fully representing my tastes from week to week.  I'd let songs continue up the chart until they got to where it seemed like they "should" peak.

Eventually almost exactly 9 years ago, I started making charts that more accurately represented my tastes.  However, in high school, there was "Nick's angry phase," where I stopped tracking the complete Pop Top 40's from week to week (for two years) and accordingly, my personal chart felt so stagnant that from 1998 through 1999, I just made my Top 40's whenever I felt like it, which was, on average, every 2.5 weeks.

And only after I picked it back up in the last 7-8 weeks of '99 and came into summer of 2000, did I realize there were several songs that weren't represented.  So they debuted pretty high the next week and for the last 5 years, I've tried hard to make sure I'm not forgetting any song I'm enjoying at the time.