Billboard Hot 100: 03/23/13

[Quixotic Music Lover]

Mar 13, 2013 18:15:50 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

I think the way to go here is billboard should only count the official video for youtube streams commissioned by the record companies....rather than randomly generated videos by users. Videos by the users are about the videos and not about the songs.

Billboard shouldve done a test chart first and let people comment rather than sticking their kneck out and getting it bitten off when this all couldve been avoided.

I am a bit taken aback that BB would not have run test charts and shared them with the music industry. For those of us who remember the 1996-98 time period, they did extensive consulation with the music industry. Unfortunately they did not allow airplay only songs in December 1996 as they first intended, but waited two more years.

I recently became a subscriber to MusicWeek, the UK equivalent to Billboard. It is refreshingly simple. The singles chart is solely based on sales (they have an airplay chart but it is not a factor in the singles chart). The website is not very fancy, BUT WORKS. THere is a lot to be said for simple, straight forward and working.

[Ballroom Blitzed]

Mar 13, 2013 18:32:32 GMT -5 Quixotic Music Lover said:

I recently became a subscriber to MusicWeek, the UK equivalent to Billboard. It is refreshingly simple. The singles chart is solely based on sales (they have an airplay chart but it is not a factor in the singles chart). The website is not very fancy, BUT WORKS. THere is a lot to be said for simple, straight forward and working.

Is that a distinct chart from the one published by the BBC?

[crystalphnx]

the difference between HS and the other viral smashes ("Friday", GS, etc.) seems very clear to me: it's about a 30-second meme, not the song or the song's actual video.

in the time it took a group of friends to sit down, watch, and laugh at "Friday", a group of friends can watch 6-8 "Harlem Shake" videos that each count just the same as that 1 "Friday" video. were people always watching the "Friday" or GS videos from start to finish? probably not. but why would you only watch 30 seconds when the entire video is what people are taking about/what makes it funny?

when the Hot 100 rules last changed, a lot of people joked how every 1D, Bieber, and Taylor song would race to No. 1 because including YouTube meant fans would just refresh vids all day long - and yet, 1D's latest single (which had an official video for fans to play) didn't even crack the Top 10. I think this is a sign that the new formula isn't that flawed and easy to manipulate as people make it seem.

I get why the HS situation is frustrating as a chart follower. HS is No. 1 because a 30-second Internet meme uses it as background music. I still don't think the weight of YouTube is the problem. The problem is a 30-second clip counting as much as a full video. That's where BB needs to do some tweaking.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Mar 13, 2013 19:11:57 GMT -5 crystalphnx said:

the difference between HS and the other viral smashes ("Friday", GS, etc.) seems very clear to me: it's about a 30-second meme, not the song or the song's actual video.

in the time it took a group of friends to sit down, watch, and laugh at "Friday", a group of friends can watch 6-8 "Harlem Shake" videos that each count just the same as that 1 "Friday" video. were people always watching the "Friday" or GS videos from start to finish? probably not. but why would you only watch 30 seconds when the entire video is what people are taking about/what makes it funny?

when the Hot 100 rules last changed, a lot of people joked how every 1D, Bieber, and Taylor song would race to No. 1 because including YouTube meant fans would just refresh vids all day long - and yet, 1D's latest single (which had an official video for fans to play) didn't even crack the Top 10. I think this is a sign that the new formula isn't that flawed and easy to manipulate as people make it seem.

I get why the HS situation is frustrating as a chart follower. HS is No. 1 because a 30-second Internet meme uses it as background music. I still don't think the weight of YouTube is the problem. The problem is a 30-second clip counting as much as a full video. That's where BB needs to do some tweaking.

I proposed taking the time listening into account. That information can actually be tracked.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

I don't think the problem is with Billboard's weighting method but I do agree now that the 30-second clip is taking things too far for a bit too long. I don't think what Billboard counts should be limited to ONLY record label commissioned videos but rather videos that include a certain percentage of the studio recording of a song. Like 75% of the shortest official version of a song (ie. radio edit).

[Arabella21]

On the radio how much of a song has to play before it registers as an impression/detection/etc.? When I listen to a terrestrial station online the name of the song pops up within thirty seconds at the most and sometimes not that long. If a person listening for 30 seconds of a song (before they got out of the car or changed the channel or whatever) would count towards that song's AI total, then it doesn't seem fair not to count 30 seconds of listening to a song through a different source like streaming or Youtube. I wouldn't mind it being weighted but it would have to be roughly the same standard across various platforms.

[Au$tin]

Mar 13, 2013 20:02:24 GMT -5 Arabella21 said:

On the radio how much of a song has to play before it registers as an impression/detection/etc.? When I listen to a terrestrial station online the name of the song pops up within thirty seconds at the most and sometimes not that long. If a person listening for 30 seconds of a song (before they got out of the car or changed the channel or whatever) would count towards that song's AI total, then it doesn't seem fair not to count 30 seconds of listening to a song through a different source like streaming or Youtube. I wouldn't mind it being weighted but it would have to be roughly the same standard across various platforms.

Well, it's a different situation. Radio plays the full song (or full radio edit). Period. They're not just going to stop playing a song midway. Plus, AI is estimated. We don't have actual numbers for it. I could only listen for 45 seconds and turn the station off, but the AI will still remain the same based off of the station's ratings, time of day, and population. So a song could be played at 5:05 pm with no one listening to it, but it would still get AI because there's no way to tell how many people are actually tuned in.

I do think that we're getting closer and closer to technology that will be able to tell us that info, though.

[Deleted]

^ some songs are played halfway on radio. Some stations usually do this for new music from artists most people don't know about.

Last time I heard a song played halfway was "It's Time" on Z100

[Arabella21]

Mar 13, 2013 21:01:08 GMT -5 Au$tin said:

Well, it's a different situation. Radio plays the full song (or full radio edit). Period. They're not just going to stop playing a song midway. Plus, AI is estimated. We don't have actual numbers for it. I could only listen for 45 seconds and turn the station off, but the AI will still remain the same based off of the station's ratings, time of day, and population. So a song could be played at 5:05 pm with no one listening to it, but it would still get AI because there's no way to tell how many people are actually tuned in.

I do think that we're getting closer and closer to technology that will be able to tell us that info, though.

Actually, one of my local stations has been playing a two-minute edit of Harlem Shake, I've heard it multiple times, the other pop station plays the full song. Weird. Generally you're right, radio plays the whole song so it is a different thing. I would be fine if they tweaked the formula to account for the percentage of the song being played, though. I think HS still would've been #1 a couple of weeks but by a much closer margin.

It's not a problem with Harlem Shake so much, but sometimes I see amateur covers on Youtube with the links to buy the original artist's song on iTunes/Amazon/etc. Would watching that count toward original artist's view total for the week? Obviously a Glee cover would count towards the Glee Cast, but some random teenager with a flipcam in their bedroom? Whatever software/technology Youtube is using just recognizes the song and who sings it for real, right? There doesn't seem to be a huge song being covered to death right now, but say another Rolling in the Deep happens...would it get a chart boost not from people listening to the "real" song but to all the covers getting attributed to the original artist? So that would be a case for only counting the "official" audio (though I don't totally agree with that, either).

[musik...]

Like what velaxti said, it's an exceptionally rare event to see what's happening with Harlem Shake on YouTube. It just so happens that billboard decided to change the rules when it most visibly benefitted a viral hit at its peak. But I think over time the addition of YouTube streams on the billboard charts will be less controversial and more appreciated. Personally, I think if billboard wants to truly make charts that are reflective of what the masses or listening to (and therefore ranking songs on their overall popularity), it would be outrageous to ignore the huge influence YouTube has on music. As more and more people are shifting from radio to digital catalogues, spotify, YouTube, pandora, etc., it is only natural that composition of the charts would adapt to the massive accessibility of music today. Actually, I wish they would track illegal downloads as well to really determine what songs are most popular (but whose audience is too cheap or embarrassed to buy).

[pnobelysk]

I noticed the article said two two million sellers for cascada.Did evacuate eventually sell two million ??

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

I dont see HS loosing many hits from youtube next week. It already has thousands of HS videos and everyday more people are releasing them. I think both the time spent watching the video and the weight is an issue that should be looked at.

Look how many Harlem Shake videos there are online. I think billboard needs to include only officially commissioned videos and they need to lessen the effect of youtube IMO. Youtube is not a paid subscription service like Spotify. If people actually had to pay money out of pocket how many would still be listening....the answer is not nearly as many. Only enough to get it to the top 20 on paid streaming services. Time spent listening should be the measure for youtube chart points not raw number of plays. Youtube is overweighted on the charts. YouTube, like radio, should be 100million listeners should = 10k in chart points.

Youtube is like radio airplay in that both have their limitations. Radio airplay can be bought. Youtube airplay can be based on anything users choose to upload and that isn't necessarily an indication if people like the song or the video. If people like the video, it doens't matter about the music in the background....particularly in this case.

At the end of the day record companies are in the business of selling music. Billboard needs to reconsider its YouTube methodology.

[Eqbk]

Mar 13, 2013 15:09:48 GMT -5 Au$tin said:

Mar 13, 2013 15:07:16 GMT -5 badrobot said:

You know what would be a really interesting method of calculating the Hot 100 (albeit super-complicated)? If it simply calculated revenue earned by each song during that week. Sales would be the easiest to track, but royalties for airplay and streaming could be factored in. If you wanted to take it further, you could even include royalties for play in TV shows, commercials, movies, etc.

It would be hard to argue the weight of the formula at that point as everything would boil down to a tangible result as opposed to "points."

And I've always wondered why it isn't set up like this. That's how we measure movies, why not music?

The German singles chart is set up similar to this. Songs are ranked based on the sales value of the sold product rather than the exact number sold; however, unlike the US charts, they only include sales data in their chart, which is probably the only way to do it. When a song is bought, it is payed for once and it counts only once, no matter how many times a person plays the song. With radio and streaming, songs can be played multiple times and be counted. A chart based on revenue that incorporates radio airplay and streaming could potentially diminish the influence singles sales have on the chart, which should be, by far, the largest influencing factor on the chart imo.

[Verisimilitude]

Mar 13, 2013 22:43:01 GMT -5 pnobelysk said:

I noticed the article said two two million sellers for cascada.Did evacuate eventually sell two million ??

Yes.

[Quixotic Music Lover]

Mar 13, 2013 18:41:47 GMT -5 Ballroom Blitzed said:

Mar 13, 2013 18:32:32 GMT -5 Quixotic Music Lover said:

I recently became a subscriber to MusicWeek, the UK equivalent to Billboard. It is refreshingly simple. The singles chart is solely based on sales (they have an airplay chart but it is not a factor in the singles chart). The website is not very fancy, BUT WORKS. THere is a lot to be said for simple, straight forward and working.

Is that a distinct chart from the one published by the BBC?

Same one I believe. You can view it online at "The Official Chart Company" website.

[Ballroom Blitzed]

Mar 14, 2013 2:13:11 GMT -5 Quixotic Music Lover said:

Same one I believe. You can view it online at "The Official Chart Company" website.

Indeed. I tend to rely on the Radio 1 chart page, though. I only visit the Official Charts site on occasion.

[Deleted]

This Week Last Week Two Weeks Ago Weeks Title, Artist Peak
1 1 1 4 #1 4 wksHarlem Shake, Baauer 1
2 2 2 23 Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Wanz 1
3 3 3 12 When I Was Your Man, Bruno Mars 3
4 5 7 5 Stay, Rihanna Featuring Mikky Ekko 3
5 8 8 9 Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake Featuring Jay Z 4
6 4 4 21 I Knew You Were Trouble., Taylor Swift 2
7 6 6 5 Started From The Bottom, Drake 6
8 7 5 15 Scream & Shout, will.i.am & Britney Spears 3
9 11 10 8 Love Me, Lil Wayne Featuring Drake & Future 9
10 9 9 23 Locked Out Of Heaven, Bruno Mars 1
11 10 12 25 Don't You Worry Child, Swedish House Mafia Featuring John Martin 6
12 14 14 14 Daylight, Maroon 5 7
13 18 28 7 Feel This Moment, Pitbull Featuring Christina Aguilera 13
14 13 11 40 Ho Hey, The Lumineers 3
15 15 15 19 F**kin Problems, A$AP Rocky Featuring Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar 8
16 16 17 18 Sweet Nothing, Calvin Harris Featuring Florence Welch 10
17 20 22 28 Radioactive, Imagine Dragons 17
18 47 72 4 Just Give Me A Reason, P!nk Featuring Nate Ruess 18
19 21 21 10 Pour It Up, Rihanna 19
20 19 19 31 I Will Wait, Mumford & Sons 12
21 17 16 27 Girl On Fire, Alicia Keys Featuring Nicki Minaj 11
22 12 – 2 Heart Attack, Demi Lovato 12
23 22 23 40 It's Time, Imagine Dragons 15
24 23 24 20 Catch My Breath, Kelly Clarkson 19
25 29 32 9 Sure Be Cool If You Did, Blake Shelton 25
26 28 26 42 Little Talks, Of Monsters And Men 20
27 27 27 27 Gangnam Style, PSY 2
28 26 34 20 Poetic Justice, Kendrick Lamar Featuring Drake 26
29 31 30 10 Carry On, fun. 20
30 25 20 20 Try, P!nk 9
31 24 18 22 Beauty And A Beat, Justin Bieber Featuring Nicki Minaj 5
32 34 37 8 Troublemaker, Olly Murs Featuring Flo Rida 32
33 32 25 24 Diamonds, Rihanna 1
34 30 49 27 Sail, AWOLNATION 30
35 37 31 24 Hall Of Fame, The Script Featuring will.i.am 25
36 35 33 38 One More Night, Maroon 5 1
37 36 29 37 Home, Phillip Phillips 6
38 51 60 7 Mama's Broken Heart, Miranda Lambert 38
39 38 38 55 Some Nights, fun. 3
40 65 92 5 Can't Hold Us, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Ray Dalton 40
41 42 40 32 Adorn, Miguel 17
42 50 53 5 Downtown, Lady Antebellum 42
43 46 47 13 Two Black Cadillacs, Carrie Underwood 41
44 40 41 13 All Gold Everything, Trinidad James 36
45 61 70 4 Bad, Wale Featuring Tiara Thomas 45
46 39 36 46 Wanted, Hunter Hayes 16
47 55 56 5 My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up), Fall Out Boy 26
48 45 44 15 One Of Those Nights, Tim McGraw 32
49 43 39 19 Better Dig Two, The Band Perry 28
50 56 64 7 Get Your Shine On, Florida Georgia Line 50
51 49 46 11 Kiss You, One Direction 46
52 59 62 4 Bugatti, Ace Hood Featuring Future & Rick Ross 52
53 53 58 10 I Drive Your Truck, Lee Brice 53
54 68 74 6 I Love It, Icona Pop Featuring Charli XCX 54
55 60 57 16 Somebody's Heartbreak, Hunter Hayes 54
56 69 87 5 Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker 56
57 54 51 18 Tornado, Little Big Town 51
58 41 35 12 C'Mon, Ke$ha 27
59 57 55 6 Loveeeeeee Song, Rihanna Featuring Future 55
60 63 59 5 R.I.P., Young Jeezy Featuring 2 Chainz 59
61 52 48 17 I'm Different, 2 Chainz 27
62 66 68 5 Pirate Flag, Kenny Chesney 62
63 58 42 3 Hey Porsche, Nelly 42
64 44 13 4 One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks), One Direction 13
65 73 89 3 Next To Me, Emeli Sande 65
66 62 52 14 Neva End, Future 52
67 70 73 10 If I Didn't Have You, Thompson Square 67
68 72 79 4 Alive, Krewella 68
69 67 63 13 Merry Go 'Round, Kacey Musgraves 63
70 80 91 4 Power Trip, J. Cole Featuring Miguel 70
71 64 54 19 Wicked Games, The Weeknd 53
72 71 71 10 Give It All We Got Tonight, George Strait 71
73 74 69 13 Who Booty, Jonn Hart Featuring IamSU! 66
74 0 Hot Shot Debut 1 Buzzkill, Luke Bryan 74
75 82 97 4 We Still In This B****, B.o.B Featuring T.I. & Juicy J 75
76 83 96 5 I Can Take It From There, Chris Young 76
77 97 76 4 Mirrors, Justin Timberlake 24
78 79 77 11 Battle Scars, Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian 73
79 75 66 18 The Only Way I Know, Jason Aldean With Luke Bryan & Eric Church 40
80 95 81 7 Love And War, Tamar Braxton 57
81 86 99 3 Like Jesus Does, Eric Church 81
82 78 75 19 Don't Judge Me, Chris Brown 67
83 90 – 2 Gold, Britt Nicole 83
84 0 Re-Entry 2 Highway Don't Care, Tim McGraw With Taylor Swift 59
85 85 85 11 Cups, Anna Kendrick 64
86 87 86 7 Dope, Tyga Featuring Rick Ross 68
87 84 84 13 Stubborn Love, The Lumineers 70
88 91 83 13 Love Sosa, Chief Keef 56
89 77 67 16 Tip It On Back, Dierks Bentley 66
90 99 – 2 Levitate, Hadouken! 90
91 81 78 16 Remember You, Wiz Khalifa Featuring The Weeknd 63
92 93 – 3 Changed, Rascal Flatts 73
93 98 – 2 More Than Miles, Brantley Gilbert 93
94 89 82 17 Little Things, One Direction 33
95 92 88 3 As Your Friend, Afrojack Featuring Chris Brown 88
96 0 New 1 Kisses Down Low, Kelly Rowland 96
97 0 New 1 Beat This Summer, Brad Paisley 97
98 0 New 1 Show Out, Juicy J Featuring Big Sean And Young Jeezy 98
99 0 Re-Entry 2 Karate Chop (Remix), Future Featuring Lil Wayne 99
100 0 New 1 Gone, Gone, Gone, Phillip Phillips 100

[kingofpain]

Wow Gangnam Style scores a jackpot!

[Quixotic Music Lover]

I recently started my free trial of a music subscription service (Rdio.com). What is considered an "on-demand" stream? If I pick "Radioactive" to listen to 5 times in one week, is that considered 5 on-demand streams? Or since I am not yet a paying subscriber are the streams not counted?

BTW I didn't think I would be keen on a subscription service. I should have known better, I am now addicted. Best part of the service is other music lovers playlists.

[Rodze]

Mar 13, 2013 22:58:39 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

Youtube is like radio airplay in that both have their limitations. Radio airplay can be bought. Youtube airplay can be based on anything users choose to upload and that isn't necessarily an indication if people like the song or the video. If people like the video, it doens't matter about the music in the background....particularly in this case.

At the end of the day record companies are in the business of selling music. Billboard needs to reconsider its YouTube methodology.

Youtube is not exactly like radio, though.

As others have already said, you don't really choose what radio will play and each play is give an estimated amount of listeners that may or may not reflect the people who were actually listening.

Considering each Youtube play is a verified play by one person who chose that song to be played, it makes sense it has a bigger weight.

The problem relies on what they consider a play on Youtube.

[Deleted]

For fans of 'one hit wonders' and those who like to figure out what debut acts might be labeled as such in the future:


The follow-up to 'Thrift Shop' climbs 25 spots to #40 this week


Psy's follow-up single will be released in April

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Mar 14, 2013 7:56:53 GMT -5 Rodze said:

Mar 13, 2013 22:58:39 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

Youtube is like radio airplay in that both have their limitations. Radio airplay can be bought. Youtube airplay can be based on anything users choose to upload and that isn't necessarily an indication if people like the song or the video. If people like the video, it doens't matter about the music in the background....particularly in this case.

At the end of the day record companies are in the business of selling music. Billboard needs to reconsider its YouTube methodology.

Youtube is not exactly like radio, though.

As others have already said, you don't really choose what radio will play and each play is give an estimated amount of listeners that may or may not reflect the people who were actually listening.

Considering each Youtube play is a verified play by one person who chose that song to be played, it makes sense it has a bigger weight.

The problem relies on what they consider a play on Youtube.

Youtube IS like radio airplay in that it has limitations. The user is not necessarily choosing the song or even all of the song in the case of Youtube just like radio. Youtube is video content...just because it has music playing in the background doesnt mean people like the music.

[Quixotic Music Lover]

The tricky part about including video streaming in a song popularity chart, is that the video engages another sense (sight) as well as hearing. A person maybe watching the video for what they see as opposed to what they hear. I am sure we can all think of music videos we have watched that we enjoyed, even though we did not particularly like the song (eg. we found the act physically attractive).

This is not the case with radio airplay. Listeners respond to the song by requesting it, or turning the station. It is true that radio stations act as a barrier (or gatekeeper) preventing songs that deserve a listen, to not be played. However, radio stations will not stay in business very long if they ignore what their core audience wants to hear.

Looking at that way I would argue that video streaming if included, should not count for much (I personally would not give it more than 2x airplay, as opposed to the almost 20x it receives now).

[badrobot]

Mar 13, 2013 18:32:32 GMT -5 Quixotic Music Lover said:

Mar 13, 2013 18:15:50 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

I think the way to go here is billboard should only count the official video for youtube streams commissioned by the record companies....rather than randomly generated videos by users. Videos by the users are about the videos and not about the songs.

Billboard shouldve done a test chart first and let people comment rather than sticking their kneck out and getting it bitten off when this all couldve been avoided.

I am a bit taken aback that BB would not have run test charts and shared them with the music industry. For those of us who remember the 1996-98 time period, they did extensive consulation with the music industry. Unfortunately they did not allow airplay only songs in December 1996 as they first intended, but waited two more years.

I recently became a subscriber to MusicWeek, the UK equivalent to Billboard. It is refreshingly simple. The singles chart is solely based on sales (they have an airplay chart but it is not a factor in the singles chart). The website is not very fancy, BUT WORKS. THere is a lot to be said for simple, straight forward and working.

I think they did do test charts -- Harlem Shake just happened to explode right when they switched over. I'm betting the test charts over the previous couple months looked pretty good since there was no mega viral sensation in that particular time period.

[areyoureadytojump]

^Yes, of course Billboard did test charts.

The Top 50 of the Hot 100, Airplay and Digital is here:

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/TFMm0314.pdf

[trumandare]

one arguement of you is brilliant

radio plays songs, if you like or not , you can switch but they count audience impressions ,

youtube some can opt,

please dont be angry about the harlem shake # 1

im sure that billboard will change the rules in the next months as they will see that it was controversial and not productive

when in a few weeks a funny man in his 40s comes and sings awfully a song on youtube, and it will seen by 200 mio people, billboard wont let him be # 1

[trumandare]

oh how nice those had been when some had only mtv, and radio

then they played nice music

for example Hungry like the wolf by duran duran .

our parents generation

[imbondz]

the irony is that BB wanted to avoid another Gangam Style thing where it was clearly the most popular song of the land for at least 1-3 of those weeks One More Night was #1. Yet, Thrift Shop is clearly the most popular song of the land. Harlem Shake may be the most popular video, but certainly not the most popular song.

[crystalphnx]

Mar 14, 2013 10:13:48 GMT -5 Quixotic Music Lover said:

The tricky part about including video streaming in a song popularity chart, is that the video engages another sense (sight) as well as hearing. A person maybe watching the video for what they see as opposed to what they hear. I am sure we can all think of music videos we have watched that we enjoyed, even though we did not particularly like the song (eg. we found the act physically attractive).

This is not the case with radio airplay. Listeners respond to the song by requesting it, or turning the station. It is true that radio stations act as a barrier (or gatekeeper) preventing songs that deserve a listen, to not be played. However, radio stations will not stay in business very long if they ignore what their core audience wants to hear.

Looking at that way I would argue that video streaming if included, should not count for much (I personally would not give it more than 2x airplay, as opposed to the almost 20x it receives now).

your point about people watching videos for the visual component rather than the audio makes sense, but then what about lyric videos? should those be weighted more than a song's official video, since the visual component is just words flashing across the screen?

it's true that sometimes acts will appear in their lyric videos (I think Michael Buble's in his latest one, was JT in his too?), but for the most part, it's just words and colors - in those cases, I think it's fair to assume that more people are watching those videos for the audio than the visual.

with regard to radio, just because I don't change the station doesn't mean that the song I stick with is the song I really want to be hearing at the moment - usually it's an "eh, guess I'll keep it on this" mentality or I've quickly flipped through the various local stations and that song is best out of those limited options. YouTube, sales, and on-demand streaming represent the consumer's choice of a particular song among a wide variety of options - certainly more options than the number of radio stations one can access. I think any method where a consumer has the power to pick exactly which song they want should be weighed much more than something like airplay or passive streaming.

[Quixotic Music Lover]

Yes I would agree if someone watches a lyrics video then the song is more important then the visual. I still would not rate it very highly because it is free (I am convinced that charging even a nominal fee would greatly reduce viewing on YouTube). The points you made regarding radio airplay are all valid, that is why it is not weighted very heavily on the HOT 100 (it is 7,500:1 which is around 1/625th of sales). I wish BB had kept it at 10,000:1 and downloads at 10:1, but they seem determined to maintain a certain % of total points consisting of radio airplay.

I am looking forward to the HOT100 issue date in which "Harlem Shake" passes 52 weeks in the top10. It could be to the HOT 100 what "Dark Side Of The Moon" is to the Billboard 200 (sounds improbable but 8-10 million Youtube views a week might be enough, not including any sales or radio airplay).