General Chart Procedures Questions Thread/Guide

[onebuffalo]

Oct 27, 2015 16:12:52 GMT -5 MTSChart21 said:

I dont know much when it comes to this so can you help me figure this out

How do the weekly points add up and what websites can I find the points for each category?

I don't understand where to find the airplay because I never have the right website for it.
Where do I find the YouTube and Spotify weekly stats?
Can someone give an example of a song and take it's streaming, sales, and airplay points and add them together because I am lost.

Please answer in good detail so I can understand this.

Also, where would I find the Monday chart highlights at?

I can only answer the last question. Billboard discontinued those once album release day was switched to Fridays. I am a subscriber to their Billboard Country Update. Everything is included with it (the airplay chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the albums chart). Those used to come separately on Mondays and Thursdays.

[MTSChart21]

Oct 27, 2015 16:31:38 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Oct 27, 2015 16:12:52 GMT -5 MTSChart21 said:

I dont know much when it comes to this so can you help me figure this out

How do the weekly points add up and what websites can I find the points for each category?

I don't understand where to find the airplay because I never have the right website for it.
Where do I find the YouTube and Spotify weekly stats?
Can someone give an example of a song and take it's streaming, sales, and airplay points and add them together because I am lost.

Please answer in good detail so I can understand this.

Also, where would I find the Monday chart highlights at?

I can only answer the last question. Billboard discontinued those once album release day was switched to Fridays. I am a subscriber to their Billboard Country Update. Everything is included with it (the airplay chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the albums chart). Those used to come separately on Mondays and Thursdays.

My questions are about the Hot 100.

[onebuffalo]

Oct 27, 2015 16:34:43 GMT -5 MTSChart21 said:

Oct 27, 2015 16:31:38 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

I can only answer the last question. Billboard discontinued those once album release day was switched to Fridays. I am a subscriber to their Billboard Country Update. Everything is included with it (the airplay chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the albums chart). Those used to come separately on Mondays and Thursdays.

My questions are about the Hot 100.

Well, there's still no highlights. Billboard used to do a preview of the Hot 100 on Wednesdays. Then they updated the website on Thursdays.

[MTSChart21]

Oct 27, 2015 16:54:53 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Oct 27, 2015 16:34:43 GMT -5 MTSChart21 said:

My questions are about the Hot 100.

Well, there's still no highlights. Billboard used to do a preview of the Hot 100 on Wednesdays. Then they updated the website on Thursdays.

Well, I know Billboard does do the highlights on Mondays at around 3 pm usually but I dont know where people find the other songs that werent listed in the article

[Deleted]

Oct 27, 2015 17:01:51 GMT -5 MTSChart21 said:

Oct 27, 2015 16:54:53 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Well, there's still no highlights. Billboard used to do a preview of the Hot 100 on Wednesdays. Then they updated the website on Thursdays.

Well, I know Billboard does do the highlights on Mondays at around 3 pm usually but I dont know where people find the other songs that werent listed in the article

They have a periscope of the top 10 release, usually it's posted on Billboards Twitter. They reveal other songs as well, which is where people get them from. (They actually have the entire Hot 100 in front of them but only reveal select songs that people ask for) Also if you follow Gary Trust on Twitter he sometimes reveals positions.

[Sherane Lamar]

This thread is pinned but hasn't been posted on for over 2 years.


I wanted to ask why "Shut Up" by the Black Eyed Peas never charted in the United States. But I doubt anybody will see my question here. I'll ask it again on the regular thread in a few hours probably.

[Gary]

Don't know but it made the Now 15 track list

Track Listings
Disc: 1
1. It's My Life - No Doubt
2. Toxic - Britney Spears
3. Stand Up - Ludacris
4. Holidae In - Chingy
5. Gangsta Nation - Westside Connection
6. Bounce - Sarah Connor
7. Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas
8. Gigolo - Nick Cannon
9. Me, Myself & I - Beyonce
10. Shorty Doowop - Baby Bash
11. I Don't Want You Back - Eamon
12. With You - Jessica Simpson
13. Sunrise - Norah Jones
14. First Cut Is The Deepest - Sheryl Crow
15. Everything - Fe Fe Dobson
16. I Hate Everything... - Three Days Grace
17. Feelin' This - Blink 182
18. Hold On - Good Charlotte
19. Falls On Me - Fuel
20. 100 Years - Five For Fighting

[Gary]

Just want to put this here because I always seem to forget


Compilation

The tracking week for sales and streaming begins on Friday and ends on Thursday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Monday to Sunday. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesday. Each chart is post-dated with the "week-ending" issue date four days after the charts are refreshed online (i.e., the following Saturday).[5] For example:

Friday, January 1 – sales tracking-week begins, streaming tracking-week begins
Monday, January 4 – airplay tracking-week begins
Thursday, January 7 – sales tracking-week ends, streaming tracking-week ends
Sunday, January 10 – airplay tracking-week ends
Tuesday, January 12 – new chart released, with issue post-dated Saturday, January 16

[Gary]

Billboard Finalizes Changes to How Streams Are Weighted for Billboard Hot 100 & Billboard 200
5/1/2018 by Billboard Staff






Greater emphasis to be given to paid subscription streams, with ad-supported activity remaining an important factor on the album & songs charts.

The adjustment to how Billboard applies streaming data to its charts was first announced in concept last October, and was followed by exhaustive industry discussion and internal analysis to arrive at the new methodology.

Currently, Billboard has two defined types of streaming plays for the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (and our other genre-specific hybrid songs charts): on-demand (such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube) and programmed (such as Pandora and Slacker Radio), with on-demand having a greater weight. The Billboard 200 albums chart -- and our other genre-based consumption-ranked albums charts -- uses a single tier (equating 1,500 streams as one album unit) for on-demand audio streams (paid or ad-supported) from subscription services. Video streams and programmed audio streams do not contribute to the Billboard 200’s calculations, but are incorporated into the Hot 100.

Beginning with the first week of Nielsen’s third quarter of 2018 (sales and streaming week of June 29 to July 5, which will be reflected on Billboard charts dated July 14), plays on paid subscription-based services (such as Apple Music and Amazon Music) or on the paid subscription tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported platforms (such as Spotify and SoundCloud) will be given more weight in chart calculations than plays on ad-supported services (such as YouTube) or on the non-paid tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported services.

Billboard will have multiple weighted tiers of streaming plays for the Hot 100, which take into account paid subscription streams (representing a full point value per play), ad-supported streams (representing a 2/3-point value per play) and programmed streams (representing a 1/2-point value per play). Those values are then applied to the chart’s formula alongside all-genre radio airplay and digital song sales data. Streaming remains the most dominant factor on the chart, followed by radio airplay and digital sales in descending order of significance.

The Billboard 200 will now include two tiers of on-demand audio streams. TIER 1: paid subscription audio streams (equating 1,250 streams to 1 album unit) and TIER 2: ad-supported audio streams (equating 3,750 streams to 1 album unit).
Streams from trial subscriptions that offer the same access and functionality as a paid tier will be considered TIER 1. At this juncture, the Billboard 200 will continue to not incorporate video streams. The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multimetric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (equating 10 sold tracks to 1 album unit), and streaming equivalent albums.

The shift to a multi-level streaming approach to Billboard’s chart methodology is reflective of a global push to measure streams in a revenue-reflective and access-based manner. Music is now being consumed on streaming services in more diverse ways, migrating from a pure on-demand experience to a more diverse selection of listening preferences (including playlists and radio) and the various options in which a consumer can access music differs based on their subscription commitment.
Beginning in 2019, the Billboard 200 will further separate paid subscription audio streams into two distinctive tiers, with the higher tier including paid subscriptions that provide full music library access and no restrictions on on-demand functionality and a secondary tier that reflects paid subscriptions that provide a partial music library and/or limited on-demand functionality. Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2018, the ratios for all the streaming tiers will be re-evaluated, with any changes implemented at the start of 2019.

[Gary]

Billboard Charts Legend

Print

GENERAL INFORMATION

SALES



Data for Billboard's sales charts, which include all album charts are compiled by Nielsen Music from a universe of retailers that represents more than 90% of the U.S. music retail market.



The sample includes not only music stores and the music departments at electronics and department stores, but also direct-to-consumer transactions and Internet sales (both physical albums via Internet, and ones bought via digital downloads). A limited array of verifiable sales from concert venues is also tabulated. All sales charts use the entire Nielsen Music panel.

The Nielsen Music system utilizes that same point-of-sale that music merchants use to track their inventory, so an itemized receipt from one's last visit to a music retailer essentially doubles as a ballot cast for our charts.

AIRPLAY

Billboard's radio charts are compiled using information tracked by Nielsen Music, which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 140 markets across the United States. The Nielsen Music system looks for an audio fingerprint, i.e. a characteristic that differentiates a song from all of the other ones that it tracks.

Certain airplay charts are based on the number of plays that each song received in a given format that week: Mainstream Top 40, Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, Alternative, Triple A, Active Rock, Heritage Rock, Mainstream Rock, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop, Rhythmic, Adult R&B, Christian AC Songs, Gospel Songs, Dance Airplay and Smooth Jazz Songs. Others are based on audience impressions: Hot 100 Airplay, Rock Airplay, Country Airplay, Rap Airplay, Christian Songs, Latin Airplay and Latin airplay charts.

The audience charts cross-reference Nielsen Music data with listener information compiled by the Arbitron ratings system to determine the approximate number of audience impressions made for each play. Thus, a song that plays at 4 a.m. does not count as much as one played at 4 p.m., and a station with a large audience will influence the chart more than either a station in a smaller market or one with a specialized format that attracts less audience.

With few exceptions, stations tracked for Billboard by Nielsen Music are commercial stations.



STREAMING DATA

Billboard compiles two streaming charts. Streaming Songs ranks the week's top streamed radio songs and on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Hot 100 Airplay, Hot Digital Songs and Streaming Songs data is used to compile the Hot 100. On-Demand Songs ranks the top on-demand play requests and plays from unlimited listener-controlled radio channels on leading music subscription services.



MIXING DATA

While many of the charts in Billboard are either pure sales or radio charts, we mingle sales, radio and streaming data on a few of our signature charts: the Billboard Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B Songs, Rap Songs, Hot Country Songs, Hot Rock Songs, Hot, otDance/Electronic Songs, Hot Christian Songs and Hot Gospel Songs (as well as two charts based on the same data feeds as the Hot 100: the Hot 100's Bubbling Under chart, which ranks the top 25 titles that have not yet reached the Hot 100).

We use these three pools of data because while the consumer's decision to purchase or stream is a significant vote of popularity, singles have a job that extends beyond being a sales vehicle: to capture radio play and, hopefully, stimulate album sales.

These hybrid charts each use formulas to mix Nielsen Music sales with audience and streaming data. The Hot 100 utilizes the a la carte sale of downloaded tracks with sales of the few retail-available singles that are still shipped to stores. The chart also factors in streaming audio and video data (both on demand and passive) from all popular formats monitored by Nielsen Music.

ADDITIONAL CHARTS

There are a few Billboard charts that are made up of data from different sources. Here's how other charts are compiled:

Billboard's Social 50 chart ranks the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites. Artists' popularity is determined by a formula blending their weekly additions of friends/fans/followers with artist page views and weekly song plays, as measured by Next Big Sound.

The Dance Club Songs chart is compiled from reports from a nationwide panel of club DJs, detailing the tracks that elicit the most audience response.

Billboard's Smooth Jazz Songs chart combines airplay data from stations monitored by Nielsen Music with those that submit playlist reports online.

The Christian Hot AC/CHR, Christian Rock, Christian Soft AC and Christian AC Indicator charts are compiled from playlist reports that stations playing those genres of music submit online.

THE CHART WEEK

Generally, charts reflect sales and airplay between Monday and Sunday of any given week. However, the mixed data charts, such as the Billboard Hot 100, use an airplay cycle of Wednesday through Tuesday.

Charts are refreshed every Thursday on billboard.com and billboard.biz and reflect the date of the Billboard issue in which they appear; online-only charts display the same corresponding date.

The printed magazine first reaches newsstands on Friday. Each issue is dated based on the end of its publication week. Thus, the Billboard that reaches newsstands on Friday, March 19, for example, is dated Saturday, March 27.

RULES AND EXPLANATIONS


GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Below is a list of awards you'll see on various Billboard charts and their meanings.

BULLET

Where included, indicates titles with the greatest weekly gains.

HOT SHOT DEBUT

Where included, indicates a chart's highest-ranking new entry.

GREATEST GAINER

Where included on album charts, indicates the title with the chart's largest unit increase. Where included on airplay charts, indicates the title with the chart's largest increase in plays or audience, depending on which data the chart utilizes.

GREATEST GAINER/AIRPLAY

Where included on mixed airplay, sales and streaming charts, indicates the title with the chart's largest increase in audience.

GREATEST GAINER/DIGITAL

Where included on mixed airplay, sales and streaming charts, indicates the title with the chart's largest unit increase.

GREATEST GAINER/STREAMING

Where included on mixed airplay, sales and streaming charts, indicates the title with the chart's largest increase in streaming.

AIRPOWER

Where included on airplay charts, indicates titles appearing in the top 20 of a respective format's plays and audience rankings for the first time with increases in both plays and audience.

POWER PICK



On Dance Club Songs, indicates the title, currently below the top 20 and on the chart the week before, with the largest increase in points.



PACESETTER



Where included on album charts, indicates the title with the chart's biggest percentage growth.





RECURRENT RULES



Descending songs are removed from the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot 100 Airplay simultaneously after 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and if ranking below No. 50. Songs are removed from Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Country Songs, Hot Rock Songs, Hot Latin Songs and Dance/Electronic Songs after 20 weeks if ranking below No. 25. Songs are removed from R&B Songs and Rap Songs, respectively, concurrent with their removal from Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Descending songs are removed from Country Airplay after 20 weeks if ranking below No. 10 in detections or audience, provided that they are not still gaining enough audience points to bullet or if they rank below No. 10 and post a third consecutive week of audience decline, regardless of total chart weeks.

Descending songs are removed from Rock Airplay, Mainstream Rock, Latin Airplay and Latin Airplay charts after 20 weeks if ranking below No. 20.

Descending songs are removed from Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40 and Adult R&B after 20 weeks if ranking below No. 15, after 26 weeks if ranking below No. 10, or after 52 weeks if ranking below No. 5.

Descending songs are removed from the Mainstream Top 40, Alternative, Triple A, Active Rock, Heritage Rock, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop, Rhythmic, Christian Songs, Christian AC Songs, Gospel Songs, Dance Airplay and Smooth Jazz Songs charts after 20 weeks and if ranking below No. 15.

AWARD CERTIFICATION LEVELS

ALBUM CHARTS
●

Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold).
▲

RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album's multi-platinum level.
◆

RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album's multi-platinum level.
○

Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 30,000 units (Oro).
△

Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 60,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album's multi-platinum level.



DIGITAL SONGS CHARTS
●

RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads and on-demand streams where 100 streams equal 1 download (Gold).
▲

RIAA certification for 1 million paid downloads and on-demand streams where 100 streams equal 1 download (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates song's multi-platinum level.


AWARDS
PS (PaceSetter for largest % album sales gain)
GG (Greatest Gainer for largest volume gain)
DG (Digital Sales Gainer)
AG (Airplay Gainer)
SG (Streaming Gainer)

[rockgolf]

Odd there's no reference to the 52/25 rule on recurrency. (If a song is 52 weeks on the chart and not gaining in any metrics and ranked below #25, it is removed.)

[travelrocks24]

Jun 11, 2019 12:37:50 GMT -5 Gary said:

RULES AND EXPLANATIONS


GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Below is a list of awards you'll see on various Billboard charts and their meanings.

BULLET

Where included, indicates titles with the greatest weekly gains.

How does one figure out what the bullet is?  What source is being used to determine this?  

[jenglisbe]

I've been compiling streaming stats for various 90s divas to see how they compare. What is the appropriate forum to start a new thread with that information?

[tanooki]

Jun 23, 2019 17:58:48 GMT -5 travelrocks24 said:

Jun 11, 2019 12:37:50 GMT -5 Gary said:

RULES AND EXPLANATIONS


GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Below is a list of awards you'll see on various Billboard charts and their meanings.

BULLET

Where included, indicates titles with the greatest weekly gains.

How does one figure out what the bullet is?  What source is being used to determine this?  

Billboard has an indicator on the Hot 100 if a song has a bullet or not

[carriekins]

One radio chart starting December.

[Gary]

Billboard Airplay Tracking Week to Shift to Friday-Thursday Beginning With Charts Dated Dec. 31
All airplay charts will adopt the new measurement period, after the all-format Radio Songs survey switched in 2021.


BY BILLBOARD STAFF


BBillboard will shift its airplay chart tracking week for all radio formats to Friday-through-Thursday beginning with Luminate-based charts dated Dec. 31. The schedule will switch from the Monday-through-Sunday tracking week previously used for all individual formats.

The all-format Radio Songs chart, which contributes to the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, already uses a Friday-through-Thursday tracking week, having segued to that schedule in July 2021.

Moving charts to a Friday-through-Thursday tracking period will align airplay with the streaming and sales tracking week, and allow for visible building chart tracking, within Luminate’s Music Connect platform, which operates under that song consumption timeline.

The dates for making the airplay chart tracking week change for all formats are as follows:

Charts finalized Monday, Dec. 19 and updated on Billboard.com Tuesday, Dec. 20 (dated Dec. 24) used data from Monday, Dec. 12 through Sunday, Dec. 18 (marking the last charts reflecting a Monday-through-Sunday tracking week).

Charts finalized Friday, Dec. 23 and to be updated on Billboard.com Wednesday, Dec. 28 (dated Dec. 31) will use data from Friday, Dec. 16 through Thursday, Dec. 22 (marking the first charts reflecting a Friday-through-Thursday tracking week).

The Friday-through-Thursday tracking week will continue to be used for airplay charts finalized Friday, Dec. 30 and to be updated on Billboard.com Wednesday, Jan. 4 (dated Jan. 7), using data from Friday, Dec. 23 through Thursday, Dec. 29, and for each week thereafter.

As previously reported, data and insights company Luminate, which provides data for Billboard’s charts, has partnered with airplay monitoring service Mediabase, and the latter’s radio tracking data began fueling Billboard surveys reflecting airplay activity dated Nov. 12. (Click here for more information, via Luminate, about the BDS/Mediabase transition, for Luminate subscribers with access to Luminate’s Music Connect platform.)

Along with Radio Songs, Billboard’s United States-based airplay charts encompass: Pop Airplay (Mainstream Top 40); Adult Pop Airplay (Adult Top 40); Adult Contemporary; Country Airplay; Rock & Alternative Airplay; Alternative Airplay; Adult Alternative Airplay (Triple A); Mainstream Rock Airplay; R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Adult R&B Airplay; Rap Airplay; Rhythmic Airplay; Latin Airplay; Regional Mexican Airplay; Latin Pop Airplay; Latin Rhythm Airplay; Tropical Airplay; Christian Airplay; Christian AC Airplay; Gospel Airplay; Dance/Mix Show Airplay; Smooth Jazz Airplay; and the seasonal Holiday Airplay chart.

All Billboard charts, viewable here, regularly update on Billboard.com each Tuesday.

Da

[bat1990]

How many actual Recurrent Charts does Billboard have? I'm not talking about recurrent rules, but actual charts like Mainstream Top 40 Recurrents, Hot 100 Recurrents, etc.