Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts

The Billboard Hot 100 50 Year Anniversary Charts^[1] are historical charts^[2] from the Billboard Hot 100's first 50 years, August 1958 through July 2008. "Alfred Music" publishing house, saluted the 50th, by publishing the "Hot 100 50th Anniversary Songbook."^[3]

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard Magazine.^[4] The primary songs chart - the Hot 100 (top 100 singles) factor in airplay, as well as music sales in all relevant formats. Billboard is considered the foremost authority worldwide in music charts, and the rankings have gained a following among the general public.

On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade. The first music popularity chart was calculated in July 1940. A variety of song charts followed, which were eventually consolidated into the Hot 100 by mid-1958. The Hot 100 currently combines single sales, radio airplay and digital downloads.

Criteria for modern chart position

Currently, Billboard utilizes a system called Nielsen SoundScan^[5] to track sales of singles, albums, videos and DVDs. This system registers sales when the product is purchased at the cash register of SoundScan-enabled stores.

Billboard also uses a system called Broadcast Data Systems, or BDS, to track radio airplay. Each song has an "acoustic fingerprint" which, when played on a "BDS capable radio station",^[6] is detected. These detections are added up every week among all radio stations to determine airplay points. Arbitron statistics^[7] are also factored in to give "weight" to airplay based on audience size and time-of-day.

Starting in 2005, Billboard allowed paid digital downloads from digital music stores such as Apple iTunes to chart with or without the help of radio airplay.

Criteria used for "Billboard 50th Anniversary" chart position

The songs in the "50th Anniversary" charts had to appear on the Hot 100 in order to be counted. This may create some confusion (for example: many great country artists and songs are not on the "50th Anniversary" chart because, while very popular on the country charts they didn't cross over to the Hot 100). Also, keep in mind the Hot 100 started in August 1958 so any prior songs are not listed, including some popular Elvis Presley songs.

The "50th Anniversary" chart is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100.^[8] The artist chart utilizes the same methodology, with weighted points applied to all titles charted by each artist during that 50-year span. They are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at number one earning the greatest value and weeks at number one hundred earning the least.^[9]

Hot 100's 50th Anniversary award relative points for every week that a title spent on the chart, regardless of rank. For the Hot 100's 50th Anniversary, Billboard's charts department ensured a more balanced representation of hits from all 50 years, by analyzing the length of chart runs in earlier decades, as well as the average weeks that titles spent in the top 10 and at number one. Weights for earlier spans were then formulated, to compensate for the shorter chart runs that titles experienced before the 1991 conversion to precise and objective sales and radio data from Nielsen Music.^[10]

Prior to December 1998, songs did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 until a retail single became available (which, incidentally, is why hits like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and No Doubt's "Don't Speak" never appeared on the Hot 100). In earlier years, retail singles came to market fairly early in a song's life-usually shortly after, or even before, a song came to radio.

However, during the 1990s, when labels would strategize number-one chart bows by significant hits, the retail release of some priority singles were withheld until radio audience reached maximum levels. Although some of these songs spent significant numbers of weeks at number one or in the top ten, the delay of the sales component ultimately shortened the spans these songs would spend on the chart. With the new methodology rewarding points for a song's entire chart run, rather than confining points to weeks spent in the top ten, the shorter chart lives recorded by the songs that debuted at number one impact their all-time standings.^[9]

Complete list of "Billboard 50th Anniversary" charts

• All-Time Hot 100 top songs|All-Time Hot 100 Top Songs^{[dead link]}
• All-Time top artists|All-Time Top Artists
• All-Time top Latin songs|All-Time Top Latin Songs^{[dead link]}
• All-Time top country songs|All-Time Top Country Songs^{[dead link]}
• All-Time top R&B/Hip-Hop songs|All-Time Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs^{[dead link]}
• All-Time top rock songs|All-Time Top Rock Songs^{[dead link]}
• Hot 100 songs of the year: 1958-2007|Hot 100 Songs of the Year: 1958-2007^{[dead link]}
• Every No. 1 song: 1958-2008|Every No. 1 Song: 1958-2008^{[dead link]}
• Songs with the most weeks at No. 1|Song With the Most Weeks at No. 1^{[dead link]}
• One-Hit wonders|One-Hit Wonders^{[dead link]}
• Most weeks at No. 1 by artist|Most Weeks at No. 1 By Artist^{[dead link]}
• Most Hot 100 hits by artist|Most Hot 100 Hits By Artist^{[dead link]}
• Most No. 2 hits without reaching No. 1 by artist|Most No. 2 Hits Without Reaching No. 1 By Artist^{[dead link]}
• Songs with the most weeks at No. 2 without reaching No. 1|Most Weeks at No. 2 Without Reaching No. 1 By Title^{[dead link]}
• Same songs to hit No. 1 by two different artists|Same Songs To Hit No. 1 By Two Different Artists^{[dead link]}
• Most No. 1s by artist (All-Time)|Most No. 1s By Artist (All-Time)^{[dead link]}

See also

• Billboard Year-End No. 1 song of the year list
• Billboard most weeks at number one list

References

1. ^ Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts
2. ^ Press Release: Billboard Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Hot 100 with All-Time Charts and a Collector's Issue. Reuters.com.
3. ^ http://news.harmony-central.com/Product-news/Alfred-Music-Publishing-Salutes-Billboard-Magazine-and-Music-Making-with-the-Hot-100-50th-Anniversary-Songbook.
4. ^ Billboard Magazine
5. ^ Nielsen Soundscan Generated Charts
6. ^ USA BDS Radio Stations
7. ^ that uses BDS,Arbitron Radio Today Statistics 2008
8. ^ "Weekly Hot 100". The Billboard Hot 100. http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100#/charts/hot-100. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts FAQ
10. ^ Nielsen Company