One standard AC chart?

[shocker]

All right, I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I know I'm going to get some disagreement, but that's OK.

Billboard published their 1st Hot AC chart (called Adult Top 40) in March, 1996 as a split from the traditional AC format. I understand R&R did this 2 years earlier.

This was a necessary, but somewhat disturbing change for the AC format. I would have preferred to have one complete AC chart consisting of about 60 song titles that span the entire AC spectrum - combining soft AC, Hot AC, modern AC, and adult R&B. It would be a chart that resembled a scaled-down version of the Hot 100, only restricted to the adult formats.

I say this because there are so many variations of "adult hits" these days, just as there are many variations of formats which are allowed to be placed on today's Hot 100.

What does everyone else think? Would it have made more sense to have one combined standard adult chart, and maybe "sub charts" of the different AC formats to show the sources? I've been in favor of this concept since the late '90s.

[atlantaboy]

Yeah - I'm still in favor of combining Hot AC with CHR, not AC b/c Hot AC is a current-hit based format just like CHR, while most mainstream AC stations play very few current hits

[Kid Pulse]

I think that if Hot AC continues to go the way it's going, they will have to create a new format. With this, also run the possibility of getting rid of the AC chart completely.

I see the idea about combining Hot AC and AC, but I don't think "soft" listeners would enjoy seeing P!nk and Staind on the chart, as Hot AC listeners (like myself) wouldn't exactly desire seeing Michael Buble or Taylor Hicks high on the chart.

That's the way I look at it- for now. :)

[atlantaboy]

video545 said:

I think that if Hot AC continues to go the way it's going, they will have to create a new format. With this, also run the possibility of getting rid of the AC chart completely.

I see the idea about combining Hot AC and AC, but I don't think "soft" listeners would enjoy seeing P!nk and Staind on the chart, as Hot AC listeners (like myself) wouldn't exactly desire seeing Michael Buble or Taylor Hicks high on the chart.

That's the way I look at it- for now. :)

Here's something else to consider - AC plays its top songs so infrequently that I'm not sure it would even make much of a difference (when you add up the points), except holding recurrent songs years after they were released (i. e. "You And Me" "Waiting On The World To Change" and probably "Home")

Can't see anyone getting rid of the AC chart b/c it's such a popular format (and people like Michael Buble and Josh Groban need a chart :))

[Hot AC Archiver]

Check this link out:

www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Charts.asp?format=a0M&cutoff=0&showtopn=2000&showyear=y&dpt=n

I believe it's a combined AC/HAC chart.

[musicfanpete]

at40fantoo said:

Check this link out:

www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Charts.asp?format=a0M&cutoff=0&showtopn=2000&showyear=y&dpt=n

I believe it's a combined AC/HAC chart.

Oh Geez! How long has "You And Me" been on this chart, 130 weeks?!

[Kid Pulse]

Thanks for posting that! And LOL at "You and Me" still on the chart! ;)

[shocker]

at40fantoo said:

Check this link out:

www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Charts.asp?format=a0M&cutoff=0&showtopn=2000&showyear=y&dpt=n

I believe it's a combined AC/HAC chart.

Thanks a lot!
:)

This is an excellent "combo" chart, and just what I've been longing for. However, there does need to be a recurrent rule enforced. "You and Me" and "Bad Day" were good songs when they were new, but they've outlived their welcome, and must GOOO AWAAAAYYY!

Billboard should use this as a sample for a standard AC chart, combining all the adult songs. If they keep their new recurrent rule in tact, think of all the fresh new songs in the top 50 or 60 that could give the feel of a true AC chart - looking like it did in the early to mid '90s before AC and Adult Top 40 got their own separate charts.

[atlantaboy]

shocker said:

at40fantoo said:

Check this link out:

www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Charts.asp?format=a0M&cutoff=0&showtopn=2000&showyear=y&dpt=n

I believe it's a combined AC/HAC chart.

Thanks a lot!
:)

This is an excellent "combo" chart, and just what I've been longing for. However, there does need to be a recurrent rule enforced. "You and Me" and "Bad Day" were good songs when they were new, but they've outlived their welcome, and must GOOO AWAAAAYYY!

Billboard should use this as a sample for a standard AC chart, combining all the adult songs. If they keep their new recurrent rule in tact, think of all the fresh new songs in the top 50 or 60 that could give the feel of a true AC chart - looking like it did in the early to mid '90s before AC and Adult Top 40 got their own separate charts.

(Sorry to have a strong opinion on this) :)
If HAC is combined with AC, then Clear Channel will get exactly what it wants and turn all CHR's basically into rhythmic stations, and M20 and Goo Goo Dolls will get COMPLETELY shut out from CHR

AC has always been a format based on familiar songs, NOT new hits, and most only play "lite songs" (although I've heard "How You Remind Me" on the AC station in ATL??)

Hot AC is based on NEW SONGS, and these stations would've been labeled as CHR in the 80s or 90s

[mrclimbfall20]

What's the point in having an AC chart? It's basically the same as Hot AC except slower at adding songs.

[atlantaboy]

mrclimbfall20 said:

What's the point in having an AC chart? It's basically the same as Hot AC except slower at adding songs.

Yeah - and most major market ACs only really add about 5 new songs a year - most mainstream AC listeners don't want to hear brand new music - they like what's familiar (only exceptions I've seen are AC stations that don't have Hot ACs in the market and do play songs like "Streetcorner Symphony" and "The Riddle" etc. but they still play these songs about 15x a week usually

[mrclimbfall20]

atlantaboy said:

mrclimbfall20 said:

What's the point in having an AC chart? It's basically the same as Hot AC except slower at adding songs.

Yeah - and most major market ACs only really add about 5 new songs a year - most mainstream AC listeners don't want to hear brand new music - they like what's familiar (only exceptions I've seen are AC stations that don't have Hot ACs in the market and do play songs like "Streetcorner Symphony" and "The Riddle" etc. but they still play these songs about 15x a week usually

Isn't that basically the same concept as those "Jack" stations that keep poppin' up around the country?

[Arson]

I think it makes sense there's a separate chart for AC vs. Hot AC because most stations fall into one of the two categories. I agree it is interesting to look at the combined chart, but very few Hot AC stations pick up all the AC-only songs, though it would be my ideal station if that were so.

[shocker]

I like the combined AC-overall chart that Mediabase has.

Thanks to Hot AC Guru for sharing the link.

Billboard and R&R should consider a combined chart because Hot AC and regular AC are all under the Adult Contemporary umbrella. But they should keep the same separate AC and Hot AC charts, only use them as sub-charts as a guide for what is on the big overall chart.

Just my opinion.

[atlantaboy]

gil said:

I think it makes sense there's a separate chart for AC vs. Hot AC because most stations fall into one of the two categories. I agree it is interesting to look at the combined chart, but very few Hot AC stations pick up all the AC-only songs, though it would be my ideal station if that were so.

Seems like the bigger difference would be most AC stations only add about 1/15 or less of the songs that Hot AC's do - still think Hot AC's are really CHRs that have branched off

Most Hot AC stations that have been around for a while evolved from CHR stations, not from AC stations

[musicfanpete]

atlantaboy said:

gil said:

I think it makes sense there's a separate chart for AC vs. Hot AC because most stations fall into one of the two categories. I agree it is interesting to look at the combined chart, but very few Hot AC stations pick up all the AC-only songs, though it would be my ideal station if that were so.

Seems like the bigger difference would be most AC stations only add about 1/15 or less of the songs that Hot AC's do - still think Hot AC's are really CHRs that have branched off

Most Hot AC stations that have been around for a while evolved from CHR stations, not from AC stations

Actually WTMX in Chicago is one of those few Hot AC stations that actually did evolve from a soft AC station back in the 80's (although it has almost always been called the Mix, and they've had the same overnight jock for almost 25 years!). Lately they've been really sounding more CHR leaning to counteract the "pseudo" CHR WKSC. And it has shown in the latest ratings as the Mix just earned their highest 12+ ratings in two or three years.

[Hervard]

musicfanpete said:

atlantaboy said:

Seems like the bigger difference would be most AC stations only add about 1/15 or less of the songs that Hot AC's do - still think Hot AC's are really CHRs that have branched off

Most Hot AC stations that have been around for a while evolved from CHR stations, not from AC stations

Actually WTMX in Chicago is one of those few Hot AC stations that actually did evolve from a soft AC station back in the 80's (although it has almost always been called the Mix, and they've had the same overnight jock for almost 25 years!). Lately they've been really sounding more CHR leaning to counteract the "pseudo" CHR WKSC. And it has shown in the latest ratings as the Mix just earned their highest 12+ ratings in two or three years.

Yeah, I remember when WTMX was an AC station. Not sure when they actually became a Hot AC station, but I do remember in mid-March, 1995, they switched from running "Casey's Countdown" to "Casey's Hot 20". Actually, from the time I started listening to that station in 1992, they were playing a few songs that were doing better at the CHR format than AC, so the evolution could have been starting even then.
One program that I really missed was the "Night Mix", which was sort of like Delilah, only I believe was exclusive to the station and there was a guy hosting it. And it wasn't quite as mushy-mushy as Delilah. I think it was sometime in 1992 that they discontinued this program. They ran some goofy show called "Chi-cow-go" in the summer of that year.

[shocker]

atlantaboy said:

Most Hot AC stations that have been around for a while evolved from CHR stations, not from AC stations

Not so with Mix 96.9 in Phoenix.

They were always more or less an AC station. Matter of fact, up until the late '80s, 96.9 FM was an easy-listening outlet that played instrumentals and soft vocals.

In the early '90s they flipped to regular AC. Sometime in the mid '90s they went to an all-'70s format, then an all-'80s format. It was sometime in the late '90s that they became Hot AC, and have kept that format ever since.