Charts? What Charts?

Charts? What Charts?

(November 2017)

WHO’S IN?

My wife and I became empty-nesters a couple of months ago. In August our oldest daughter headed off for her third year of college and just days later our youngest daughter joined her at the same school. After a couple of weeks of adjusting to the transformation of not having the hustle and bustle of kids’ activities, keeping our eye on the school calendar to see what was coming up next  and an eerily quiet house we adjusted to our new normal and it’s almost like the first year of marriage again.

One thing that has caught me off guard though has been the absence of not knowing what is currently in or trending like I did when children were under our roof. For years now we knew what the popular toys would be at Christmastime. We knew when Lizzie McGuire, High School Musical, Hannah Montana – and more recently – Stranger Things were the hit TV shows for the ‘tweeners. Of course, we also were kept in the loop with current music.

That, like the larger pile of laundry that accumulated every day, has disappeared now. For those of you that have children at home, do not underestimate the value they bring to you as far as keeping you up-to-date on what currently is trending. More than once in 2017 I have found myself at events saying “what,” “huh?” or “is that the name of the group or the song?”  when I get requests from those typical 12-20 year-olds. I then, of course, think to myself ‘where do they hear this stuff?’

CHARTS? WHAT CHARTS?

There was a time, like let’s say from the 70s to the 90s, where your local top 40 station was all you needed to tune into to keep up with the latest music and be prepared to slip those biggest hits into your music program at your next Saturday night wedding. There were exceptions of course: songs such as Greased Lightning, What I Like About You or, more recently, The Cha Cha Slide, never made it into the Top 40 pop charts, but yet were floor packers at parties. For the most part though listening to Casey Casem and the weekly American Top 40 a couple of times a month was enough to keep you abreast of what was sure to be requested at your upcoming events. Those days have disappeared like an evening sunset. Nowadays there are music downloads, streaming sites, internet radio, and YouTube videos. The obvious answer of course to staying on top of the music scene is to keep your eye on the charts – but then it has to be asked – what charts?  A recent peak at these graphs revealed that even they may not be able to reveal much to you. For example, viewing of several different notable music charts recently showed that the most popular songs on the Billboard pop charts were Rockstar/Post Malone and Bodak Yellow/ Cardi B, yet neither of those songs appeared on either the Radio Wave or Promo Only Mainstream Top Ten, respectively. Contrarily Liam Payne’s Strip It Down was listed at the top spot on the Radio Wave chart and number three on the Promo only Mainstream chart, but completely failed to appear in the Billboard Top Ten.

TRYING TO KEEP UP

Billboard Magazine, long considered the authority on record sales and popularity in the USA, has tried to keep up with all the changes in a digital world, as explained in Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles 1955-2015." Mr. Whitburn is considered one of the utmost authorities on the Billboard charts--his Record Research company specializes in books on music charts (primarily Billboard). Regarding the Hot 100:

For the most part though listening to Casey Casem and the weekly American Top 40 a couple of times a month was enough to keep you abreast of what was sure to be requested at your upcoming events. 

"On August 4, 1958, Billboard introduced the Hot 100--its first chart to fully integrate the hottest-selling and most-played pop singles. Ever since its introduction, the Hot 100 has become the nation's most accurate and trusted source of song popularity in America.

The formula for tabulating this chart has been revised several times over the years to account for changes in both the record and radio industries. From 1958-1991, Billboard compiled the Hot 100 from playlists reported by radio stations and surveys or retail sales outlets. On November 30, 1991, Billboard made the chart even more precise by using actual monitored radio airplay and actual point-of-sale information to compile the chart.

For the Hot 100's first four decades, an essential qualification for a song's placement on the chart was its commercial availability as a single in America. The record industry's practice of releasing singles for consumers declined dramatically in the 1990s. More and more radio hits were ineligible to chart on the Hot 100, as they were never released commercially as singles.

On December 5, 1998, Billboard debuted a completely revised Hot 100, which included, for the first time, songs that were not commercially available as singles. The revised chart now included all formats of music, so Country, Latin, and Christian music were well represented on the Hot 100. 

As physical record sales continued to decline, the Hot 100 became more reliant on radio airplay. With the introduction of Apple's online iTunes music store in 2001, record companies began to slowly offer paid digital downloads. Once again consumers were able to easily access their favorite songs for a low price. By 2004, this practice had revitalized the retail singles market. 

On February 12, 2005, Billboard began tabulating digital download data into the Hot 100. This helped restore a better balance of sales and airplay popularity to America's #1 pop singles chart. On August 11, 2007, data from streaming and on-demand services were incorporated into the chart. In February of 2013, YouTube views (from U.S. viewers) were added to the Hot 100 formula, making the chart an even more accurate barometer of how fans consume music in an ever-evolving world."

More recently Billboard announced that they would not be using Youtube as part of their tabulation formula in 2018 after there were some concerns of songs “hacking their way” to number one. Yes, even they are having trouble keeping up.

The Way I see it, I have one saving grace: my son is a seventh-grade teacher! He’s sure to know what is trending with today's youth and can pass the word onto me.

Until next month,

~ Michael ~

Michael J. Lenstra is celebrating over 25 years in the Mobile DJ industry, is a full-time DJ/Entertainer, and is owner of Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, Iowa.