THE PMB 50: MARCH 20, 2012.

[Matt4319]

Ladies and gentlemen: The Pulse 100 is new, improved, and most importantly: up to date.

More on chart methodology and all that good stuff later.

[Deleted]

Cool!!! I'm forever grateful for all of blfdguys hard work, but I'm lovin the new chart :)

[Matt4319]

Mar 20, 2012 20:17:13 GMT -5 @jback said:

I'm forever grateful for all of blfdguys hard work

I would like to stress this as well. Cesar tirelessly soldiered on even when most of us (including me) quit paying attention. We just never got quite back up to speed. I've reached out to Cesar and I hope he will continue helping out as needed.

That said, I guess you could say I'm back in the swing of things as far as involvement in the board! I think it will tie in nicely with the ramping up of [url=http://www.twitter.com/pulsemusicboard[/url]@pulsemusicboard[/url] as well.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what "this" (or the Pulse 100) is, it's a compilation of all the different personal charts posted here. Its origins go all the way back to 2001 and the Radio & Records message board. Nick Wiltgen, who posted on R&R as "nickstorm", came up with the idea of:

a chart compiled from "playlists" submitted by members. Each person, or reporter, could assign a total of up to 1,000 points to any combination of songs he or she wishes. The only caveats were a limit of 99 points per song, a limit of four songs by the same artist on each person's playlist, and a limit of 50 songs per playlist.

These points were tallied and the songs were ranked by their total number of points, yielding the PeopleBase Top 50.

www.geocities.ws/pbasechart/peoplebase.html

This idea proved to be highly popular on the R&R boards. The "look" of the chart quickly shifted from a straight, personal-charts based format to a much quicker and dynamic system. Alliances were formed to get certain songs to the top, and even users joined in on the fun by recording their own material for consideration on the chart -- The Max (aka MB), Rob64, and BlahBlahBlah among them. (The last user to reach the top 5 on PeopleBase was yours truly with "hyrmsomedaymuym".)

The PeopleBase chart would last until 2003, but in the meantime, I started compiling the R&R 100 as a reaction in the shift of PeopleBase to a less-representative sample of the board's actual musical tastes. I think I did it for about 4 years (and Rob even made the R&R 100 with "The Sunshine", the only user to do so). But times changed, and I eventually became unable to compile the chart anymore. It was unofficially discontinued, but a couple of people (including blfdguy1/Cesar) offered to take up the mantle. Since then, we have had faithful updates, but generally lagged several months behind.

But the spirit of the Pulse 100 remained alive into 2012...

Now about this week and the "new" Pulse 100, which I'm calling the PMB 50 for now.

Reporting[/u]

Every reporter who posted a personal chart on PMB in roughly the past 4 weeks was counted.

If the chart was posted in a "Personal Charts: [date] thru [date]" thread in the Personal Charts forum, the past 4 weeks of threads were considered. For the March 20th chart, that includes these threads:

Personal Charts: 3-12-12 thru 3-18-12
Personal Charts: 3-5-12 thru 3-11-12
Personal Charts: 2-27-12 thru 3-4-12
Personal Charts: 2-20-12 thru 2-26-12

If the chart was not posted in one of those threads (whether in their own dedicated thread in the Personal Charts forum, or on another forum altogether), charts submitted between February 20th and March 18th would be counted. Any more recent chart submitted by a user supersedes older ones.

Note on charts posted outside the Personal Charts forum: There are a few forums which conduct weekly charts specific to that forum, with rules that a song must be a current single at the respective radio format to be eligible. Those charts were not counted in the PMB 50 unless a supplemental all-formats chart was posted.

The submission deadline is set at the Sunday night preceding the upcoming chart date, at 11:59 PM Pacific time. For the March 27th chart, the submission deadline is Sunday, March 25th at 11:59 PM Pacific time.

Methodology

Up to 100 positions of a user's chart will be considered. Points will be given as follows:

(a) Base points: The #1 song on a reporter's chart receives the same number of points as the average Spins Per Week Per Station (SPWPS) of the #1 song on the Mediabase CHR/Pop chart (including recurrents) between July 10th, 2011 and March 11, 2012. The #2 song receives the same number of points as the average SPWPS of the #2 song in that time frame; and so on through #100. The graph looks like this: i.imgur.com/Gqgsc.png

(b) Multiplier: The more recent a chart, the higher multiplier it receives. For the March 20th chart:
- Charts posted in the Personal Charts: 3-12-12 thru 3-18-12 thread, or outside that thread between March 12th and March 18th, receive a 6x multiplier.
- Charts posted in the Personal Charts: 3-5-12 thru 3-11-12 thread, or outside that thread between March 5th and March 11th, receive a 5x multiplier.
- Charts posted in the Personal Charts: 2-27-12 thru 3-4-12 thread, or outside that thread between February 27th and March 4th, receive a 4x multiplier.
- Charts posted in the Personal Charts: 2-20-12 thru 2-26-12 thread, or outside that thread between February 20th and February 26th, receive a 3x multiplier.

Only songs that are present on 10% of the panel will be eligible to chart. For the March 20th chart, there were 29 reporters; therefore, a song must have been present on at least 3 charts to be eligible.

I think those are the basics; everyone still with me? Let's get charting!

[Lozzy]

I love it!

[dbhmr]

Great idea! I've never really posted a personal chart though--can someone give me a break down of how that all works? I assume there's a thread for it, and that it's probably pretty open ended, but are current singles only accepted (I listen to a lot of old stuff, but that could screw with the chart and generally be obnoxious)? And is there a minimum number of songs we have to chart (like, there has to be at least a Top 20 or something)?

I think I tried this once years ago and gave up, but now with LastFM and my general broader music taste, it could be a lot more fun now.

[Kurt]

Mar 21, 2012 10:51:19 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Great idea! I've never really posted a personal chart though--can someone give me a break down of how that all works? I assume there's a thread for it, and that it's probably pretty open ended, but are current singles only accepted (I listen to a lot of old stuff, but that could screw with the chart and generally be obnoxious)? And is there a minimum number of songs we have to chart (like, there has to be at least a Top 20 or something)?

I think I tried this once years ago and gave up, but now with LastFM and my general broader music taste, it could be a lot more fun now.

You can chart whatever you'd like; for example, I charted nearly all of Adele's album last year when it was released. Since the 10% panel requirement is there, "outlier" songs won't really affect the panel unless you're not the only one charting them (which doesn't mean they're outliers anymore, lol). There's a sticky thread at the top of this forum with more FAQs and information on personal charts.

[Matt4319]

Mar 21, 2012 10:51:19 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Great idea! I've never really posted a personal chart though--can someone give me a break down of how that all works? I assume there's a thread for it, and that it's probably pretty open ended, but are current singles only accepted (I listen to a lot of old stuff, but that could screw with the chart and generally be obnoxious)? And is there a minimum number of songs we have to chart (like, there has to be at least a Top 20 or something)?

I think I tried this once years ago and gave up, but now with LastFM and my general broader music taste, it could be a lot more fun now.

There is no minimum you'd have to list -- but obviously the more songs you list, the more you help on the chart. Generally most people post at least a top 10, but I remember several years ago we had someone who only posted a top 5 each week.

What songs you want to list is up to you. Generally most songs on charts posted by people here are current singles, but album tracks can and sometimes will make it to the overall chart. (Example: If I had extended this week's chart out further, "Some Nights" by fun. would have been #52. So close!)

Me personally, occasionally I'll start re-listening to an older song and like it enough that it would theoretically re-enter my chart, but unless it's still fairly recent, I wouldn't put it on there. (A rare exception occurred earlier this year when I re-entered "On The Way Down" by Ryan Cabrera, but it didn't get past #46 or so.)

[dbhmr]

Okay, fun! Thanks for all the help. Last question! Is there a general day everyone posts, or anytime within the week that's named on the thread?

[Matt4319]

Mar 21, 2012 11:44:33 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Okay, fun! Thanks for all the help. Last question! Is there a general day everyone posts, or anytime within the week that's named on the thread?

Any time within the week is fine.

[Pipa]

Quick question: does this include charts posted in the Weekly Pop/Rock Countdown?

[Matt4319]

Mar 22, 2012 18:59:18 GMT -5 Pipa said:

Quick question: does this include charts posted in the Weekly Pop/Rock Countdown?

It does, but only if they were specifically represented as all-formats charts. Yours is an example of one that was counted, since it listed your full chart while crossing out the songs that were ineligible for the Alternative-specific countdown.

[Pipa]

Mar 22, 2012 20:58:29 GMT -5 Matt4319 said:

Mar 22, 2012 18:59:18 GMT -5 Pipa said:

Quick question: does this include charts posted in the Weekly Pop/Rock Countdown?

It does, but only if they were specifically represented as all-formats charts. Yours is an example of one that was counted, since it listed your full chart while crossing out the songs that were ineligible for the Alternative-specific countdown.

That's great, there's no way Kelly would be #1 without me.

[Matt4319]

Mar 22, 2012 21:13:47 GMT -5 Pipa said:

Mar 22, 2012 20:58:29 GMT -5 Matt4319 said:

It does, but only if they were specifically represented as all-formats charts. Yours is an example of one that was counted, since it listed your full chart while crossing out the songs that were ineligible for the Alternative-specific countdown.

That's great, there's no way Kelly would be #1 without me.

Kelly's life would suck without you.

[Pipa]

Mar 22, 2012 21:18:03 GMT -5 Matt4319 said:

Mar 22, 2012 21:13:47 GMT -5 Pipa said:

That's great, there's no way Kelly would be #1 without me.

Kelly's life would suck without you.

Because of me, right, Mr. Know It All?

[Yunohu]

Ah, too bad, I liked not being rushed to get our charts in by a certain date. It will be hard if not impossible for me to submit my charts on time. The one I just submitted is a few days too late. But I understand the desire to be current. Also we're down from 100 to 50 positions on the chart. Is there a chance to expand back to 100?

Is it possible to count songs beyond the Top 50 on people's charts? I have 100 on mine. I think I at least prefer the new point system, which I assume gives a more appropriate heavier weight toward the top songs -- I mean the difference between the #1 and #2 would be greater than the difference between #2 and #3 and so on on down. I have figured out a system on my own which would do that as well as count however many songs might be listed. I'd love to try it out someday, but unfortunately I don't have enough time to manage something like this, so I appreciate those of you are willing and able to do this.

Last question and comment, is there the intent to have the weeks in-between this chart and the previous chart that was tabulated (early September as I recall) eventually covered? There were also several months worth of charts never tabulated a year or 2 prior to that. I know it's a lot of work.

[blfdguy1]

Matt and I have discussed doing the rest of 2011 under the old way and then starting with 2012 doing it with the new calculations. With the weekly tabulations mostly off my hands for now, I will go back and update the few weeks that are still missing from 2010 as well. I'm thinking once we get more people submitting their charts, it could go back up to a top 100

[Matt4319]

Mar 25, 2012 4:33:05 GMT -5 Yunohu said:

Also we're down from 100 to 50 positions on the chart. Is there a chance to expand back to 100?

Like Cesar mentioned above, I'm hoping that we will get back up to 100 positions. With only 29 reporters right now, I think the bottom of the chart is too weak. With the 10% requirement, we only had 119 songs even eligible to chart this week. #100 would have been Foster The People's "Call It What You Want", which is on 3 charts at #10, #33, and #73. If we didn't have the 10% requirement there would be 218 songs eligible, but #100 would then be Florence & The Machine's "What The Water Gave Me", which is on 2 charts at #5 and #35.

Mar 25, 2012 4:33:05 GMT -5 Yunohu said:

Is it possible to count songs beyond the Top 50 on people's charts? I have 100 on mine.

I do count the top 100.

[Yunohu]

Mar 26, 2012 1:25:21 GMT -5 Matt4319 said:

Mar 25, 2012 4:33:05 GMT -5 Yunohu said:

Also we're down from 100 to 50 positions on the chart. Is there a chance to expand back to 100?

Like Cesar mentioned above, I'm hoping that we will get back up to 100 positions. With only 29 reporters right now, I think the bottom of the chart is too weak. With the 10% requirement, we only had 119 songs even eligible to chart this week. #100 would have been Foster The People's "Call It What You Want", which is on 3 charts at #10, #33, and #73. If we didn't have the 10% requirement there would be 218 songs eligible, but #100 would then be Florence & The Machine's "What The Water Gave Me", which is on 2 charts at #5 and #35.

Mar 25, 2012 4:33:05 GMT -5 Yunohu said:

Is it possible to count songs beyond the Top 50 on people's charts? I have 100 on mine.

I do count the top 100.

Well, actually the way you describe it now sounds quite good to me, so I guess there's no more reason to complain, other than to say that either way you decide (a 10% or 2 chart minimum), a Top 100 sounds like it would work reasonably well and be worth doing, even with this size.

Come to think of it, that 10% minimum rule wouldn't necessarily allow for more qualified songs with a greater number of entered charts, because though 30 charts would increase the number of songs likely to be on 3 charts, wouldn't you with 31 charts have to then raise the required number of charts each song has to be on to 4 in order to meet or exceed that 10% rule? If so, that would likely make even fewer songs eligible than there are currently.