RADIO & RECORDS
Hi Fred,
If what I’ve what I read is accurate, Billboard has acquired Radio & Records. If that is true, I’m curious to know if there will only be one chart in the future instead of the two current ones. I’m asking this because I’m a huge Carrie Underwood fan, and it was a little bittersweet for me to see that her single “Don’t Forget to Remember Me” reached No. 1 on the Radio & Records chart but No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Would occurrences such as this be a thing of the past?
Thanks for your insight.
Gregg Nottingham
Chicago, Illinois
Dear Gregg,
What you read is true. Our parent company, VNU, acquired Radio & Records and subsequently merged the 33-year-old publication with Billboard Radio Monitor. The first issue of the new Radio & Records is being published this week with a cover date of Aug. 11.
The airplay charts that will appear in Radio & Records will be compiled from data supplied by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. R&R is now part of the Billboard Information Group, so while some charts will appear exclusively in R&R (just as many charts appeared exclusively in Billboard Radio Monitor), the charts that appear in both R&R and Billboard will be the same, including Hot Country Songs.SONGS VS. TRACKS
Fred,
Can you explain why there are two charts, one called Hot Digital Songs and one called Hot Digital Tracks? It certainly seems redundant to me. And how are each calculated into the Hot 100 chart?
Jeff Lutz
Dear Jeff,
Some songs are available to purchase as digital downloads in different versions — sometimes in clean or explicit versions, sometimes as album tracks or single edits, sometimes as remixes. On Hot Digital Tracks, all versions chart separately. On Hot Digital Songs, sales of all versions of a song are combined.
If you look at this week’s Hot Digital Songs chart, you’ll see that “London Bridge” by Fergie is No. 1. However, on Hot Digital Tracks, the explicit version is No. 2 and the radio edit (a clean version) ranks No. 17.
Only Hot Digital Songs is published in Billboard magazine while both digital tallies are available online and to subscribers of the Billboard Information Network (BIN). Sales of all versions of a song are combined for the Hot 100, so in effect it is the data from the Hot Digital Songs chart that figures into that chart.
While it may seem redundant to compile both charts, keep in mind that Billboard charts are designed to be helpful tools for the music industry, and the industry prefers having the information from both charts available.TIME TO CALL ON JANET?
Hey Fred,
How is it that the Princess of Pop is not fairing well on the Hot 100? [Janet Jackson’s] single “Call on Me” is No. 25 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, gaining airplay every week, yet on the Hot 100 she falls weekly with no gainer credit.
On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart she is bound to crack the top 10 next week with airplay still gaining. Has the Super Bowl incident really hurt her career that much, or is pop radio just ignoring her? I feel the same way that the Chart Beat for an update on that single’s Hot 100 status.
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