Top 100 of 2004 (Inverse Points only!)

[Hot AC Archiver]

Here are the top 100 HAC songs of the year, as computed by a simple inverse point system. (If I had more time on my hands, I would program Excel to add bonus points to add more weight to a songs' peak, but this is all I have...)

1. This Love
2. Someday
3. The Reason
4. My Immortal
5. Here without You
6. Heaven
7. 100 Years
8. Bright Lights
9. Why Don't You & I
10. Away from the Sun 
11. It's My Life      
12. Accidentally in Love
13. The First Cut Is the Deepest
14. One Thing
15. Fallen
16. White Flag
17. She Will Be Loved
18. I Don't Want to Be
19. Meant to Live
20. Everything
21. My Happy Ending
22. Pieces of Me
23. Breathe [M Etheridge]
24. Love Song
25. Don't Tell Me
26. When I Look to the Sky
27. Light in Your Eyes 
28. Hey Ya!
29. 1985
30. Extraordinary
31. Feelin' Way Too  Damn Good
32. On the Way Down
33. World on Fire
34. Our Lives
35. Daughters
36. Ordinary
37. Broken
38. Breakaway
39. Devils and Angels
40. Clarity
41. Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
42. Stupid
43. Falls on Me
44. Sunrise
45. Why Are We Runnin'?
46. With You
47. Seven Days without You
48. You and I Both
49. Breathe [M Branch]
50. Love's Divine
51. (Reach Up for the) Sunrise
52. When You're Gone  
53. Somebody Told Me
54. Lady 
55. Collide
56. Rescue
57. Unwell
58. Calling All Angels
59. Dare You to Move
60. Run Away
61. Invisible
62. Another Postcard (Chimps)
63. This One's for the Girls
64. Don't Leave Home
65. Numb
66. Take Your Mama
67. Give a Little Bit
68. I Miss You
69. Vertigo
70. Perfect
71. Curbside Prophet
72. Everybody Wants You
73. She Don't Want Nobody Near
74. Heaven [Live]
75. Testing 1,2,3
76. The Devil in the Wishing Well
77. More than Love
78. Breaking the Habit
79. Cold and Empty
80. Eight Easy Steps
81. Perfect Time of Day
82. Will I Ever Make It Home
83. Downfall
84. Another White Dash
85. Call Me Mellow
86. Sand in My Shoes
87. The Way You Move
88. Last Thing
89. White Houses
90. 8th World Wonder
91. Leave (Get Out)
92. Anything
93. What You Waiting for?
94. Everytime
95. Ocean Avenue
96. Try
97. Take My Breath  Away
98. Disappear
99. (Taking My) Life Away
100. Somewhere Only We Know

I will update my website of the top 100 songs of the Hot AC chart (1994-present) when I figure out the points for this calendar year.

[Hot AC Archiver]

if anyone's interested, I've updated my calculation of the 100 top HAC songs to include 2004 (1994-2004):

calbean.users3.50megs.com/at20/top100hac.html

(Sorry about the pop-up ads)

[friday]

So how do you account for the chart's expansion from 30 to 40 spots in 2002?

[Hot AC Archiver]

I treat the point system as if there were 40 positions, even when there were only 30 positions on the chart (e.g. #1 always received 40 points).

Most of the popular songs would've spent little time below #30 anyway, and a song would've earned relatively few points there each week (10 or less).

[Arson]

at20fantoo said:

I treat the point system as if there were 40 positions, even when there were only 30 positions on the chart (e.g. #1 always received 40 points).

Sorry for a stupid question... just to clarify how the inverse point system works.

If a song spent five weeks at #40 in 2004, the song's total points for 2004 would be 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5?

[Hot AC Archiver]

There are no stupid questions! ;)

Yes, that is correct. [41-position] is how the simple inverse point system works for a song's points in a given week.

[DuckHead]

Your Hot AC all-time inverse points chart is awesome! It's really the only kind of chart of it's kind, and it's very interesting.

It seems like, for whatever reason, songs started to stay on the chart for longer periods of time starting around 1999. Do you have any idea why that is? I keep Top 20 inverse points for Pop at my website, and the point totals for the songs from 1994 (when the PPW era began) through 2004 are very similar. But your Hot AC inverse point charts have a big difference in point totals from songs pre-1999 and post-1999.

[Michael1973]

That was pretty much true on the pop chart as well. Songs in the late 1990's would take 3-4 months to fall off the chart from their peak positions, as compared to 2-3 months now.

I'd have to assume that radio stations had a much slower turnover rate for popular songs during this time frame. Thankfully, that's not so much the case anymore.

[Hot AC Archiver]

DuckHead said:

Your Hot AC all-time inverse points chart is awesome! It's really the only kind of chart of it's kind, and it's very interesting.

It seems like, for whatever reason, songs started to stay on the chart for longer periods of time starting around 1999. Do you have any idea why that is? I keep Top 20 inverse points for Pop at my website, and the point totals for the songs from 1994 (when the PPW era began) through 2004 are very similar. But your Hot AC inverse point charts have a big difference in point totals from songs pre-1999 and post-1999.

Thanks for the compliment on my chart. 

Yes, I believe songs gradually spent more time on the chart through the 90s. I haven't done much research into this, so I can't confirm it though. Here's an unscientific sample of a few songs with similar peak positions:

"All I Wanna Do" - Sheryl Crow - 4 weeks at #1 in 1994, 24 weeks charted

"Superman" - Five for Fighting - 4 weeks at #1 in 2001, 46 weeks charted

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"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - Elton John - 12 weeks at #1 in 1994, 29 weeks charted

"Game of Love" - Santana - 11 weeks at #1 in 2002, 34 weeks charted ( a little longer)

(Extreme Example): "Everything You Want" - Vertical Horizon - 11 weeks at #1 in 2000, 59 weeks charted
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Also note that recurrent rules have changed a few times, which can affect the point totals.