How were the pre-PPW R&R Yearend charts compiled?

[somelikeitwhen]

I know that from 1994 to the magazine's end year-end charts were made by compiling every spin a song got while on the chart. But how were these charts compiled before April 1994? Were they just ranked by how many stations they were added to or was it inverse points or something?

[atlantaboy]

Everything was def. done by inverse points back then - just not sure if it was straight 40-1 inverse points though cause R&R (in weekly charts, looking at station playlists) used to give a certain amount of points to the #1 song, certain amount to #2, etc. and then the same amount to every song #6-10, 11-15 etc.

[Lozzy]

For a short while around 1994, R&R used a points system to compile the charts.
Quoting R&R;
"Points - Each station's total plays of a song times the station's individual weight. Total Points -All stations/points on song added together. R&R weighing formula: Each station has its own weight in points, based on the size of its audience and how effectively it reaches its target listenership. The elements used in determining the station points are average quarter-hour persons, weekly cume, and the station's turnover, which measures its effectiveness. Simple compression and moving average limiting formulas are then applied to balance the weight ranges. The resultant tighter point spread makes it easier to judge the relative chart impact of each station."

I know that prior to 1994, they used station playlists, and in their chart printouts listened the number of stations, followed by 3 columns showing how many stations were playing a song in heavy, moderate or light rotation. They probably just used inverse points from the station playlists.

[Hervard]

Oct 23, 2010 22:34:05 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

Everything was def. done by inverse points back then - just not sure if it was straight 40-1 inverse points though cause R&R (in weekly charts, looking at station playlists) used to give a certain amount of points to the #1 song, certain amount to #2, etc. and then the same amount to every song #6-10, 11-15 etc.

Actually, the only time they gave extra points was for weeks at #1. A song got 40 points, plus ten bonus points for each week at the top. Other than that, it was a straight inverse point system.
However, your theory might hold true for the year-end list of 1976, since that one was very weird. I used several different point systems for that one, but it was still quite inconsistent. I'm thinking that the reduction in chart size (the chart was trimmed back to 30 songs as of mid-October) might have had something to do with it but what, I don't know.
In 1975, the very first year they had a year-end chart, the songs were ranked according to peak position, with ties broken by weeks in the Top Ten, Top 20, Top 30 and Top 40. That is, I think. This wasn't a very valid method IMO, since #1 songs with short chart runs would rank over #2 songs with longer chart runs.