Pre-SoundScan era songs that would’ve been monsters hits

[neel]

What songs from before 11/30/91 would’ve been absolute monster hits on the Hot 100 had Nielsen SoundScan & Billboard’s current data existed at the time?

[jdanton2]

in the 60's and 70's James Brown might have been more successful . he was huge on r&b radio but might not have been as much at pop radio.i would guess the stores that sold r&b records would not have been counted as well.

[jenglisbe]

Salt N Pepa's "Push It" went Platinum in the 1980s when not a lot of singles were, but it only peaked at #19 on the Hot 100. It surely would have been a top 10 hit under 1990s methods.

"We Are the World" was a #1 anyway, but considering its massive sales (a 4 million cert in the 1980s was literally unheard of) I assume it would have had a much longer run at #1 with more accurate data.

[Steel Sponge]

"I Melt with You" by Modern English, probably.

[tekkenguy]

“Everything I Do” would have easily broken double digits at #1.

[neel]

May 28, 2023 22:08:23 GMT -5 tekkenguy said:

“Everything I Do” would have easily broken double digits at #1.

Billboard were originally going to place SoundScan into their chart formula in the Summer of 1991, but delayed it till November to ensure its accuracy. The fact that song was still on the sales chart in early 1992, tells me that Bryan Adams would've held the longest running number one record for 28 years. 

[jdanton2]

May 28, 2023 22:08:23 GMT -5 tekkenguy said:

“Everything I Do” would have easily broken double digits at #1.

it was #1 in sales for i think 17 weeks and over 10 weeks at radio. interesting that the first two that did it were from movies as well.