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aaronk
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| Posted: 30 June 2019 at 10:06am | IP Logged
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At the end of 1998, Billboard made a change to the Hot 100 chart methodology allowing LP cuts to chart, etc. When this happened, a LOT of country songs suddenly appeared on the chart. This may have been, perhaps, due to the fact that these country singles had a physical single available (giving them more weight), at time when record companies were eager to stop releasing physical singles in order to boost album sales.
In 1999, 25% of the Hot 100 charters were country songs! Not counting legitimate crossover hits (i.e. Shania Twain's pop singles), I counted 80 out of 314 songs that are country. 31 of those songs made the top 40, while the other 49 peaked below the top 40. I noticed a similar pattern for the years that followed, but I didn't do an actual count for subsequent years.
By contrast, in 1998, a total of 400 songs charted and only 44 were country (11% of all songs). Of those 8 made the top 40 (not counting Shania's pop singles) and 36 more peaked below the top 40.
Does this trend still continue today, or was there a point when another chart methodology change caused a lot of country songs to no longer appear on the Hot 100?
Edited by aaronk on 30 June 2019 at 10:33am
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Aaron Kannowski
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JMD1961
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| Posted: 30 June 2019 at 2:11pm | IP Logged
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This continues. The main reason for the influx of
country songs on the "pop" chart in 1998 was because,
with that method change, the Hot 100 switched from using
strictly top 40 airplay to including airplay from ALL
genres.
Even Billboard no longer refers to the Hot 100 as the pop
chart on their website. That honor now falls to the
mainstream top 40 chart.
Edited by JMD1961 on 30 June 2019 at 2:12pm
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aaronk
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| Posted: 30 June 2019 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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Ok, that makes sense. Do you attribute these changes to the fact that
fewer songs each year made the chart? It seems like there was a steep
drop in total number of entires (from around 400 songs to 300ish). Or
was the drop in songs more because of labels releasing far fewer
physical singles? (The biggest, best songs would surely chart even
without the help of a physical release, but perhaps most songs that
would've normally charted below the top 40 needed the help of a
physical release.)
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JMD1961
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| Posted: 01 July 2019 at 2:19am | IP Logged
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I think the drop in number of songs each year had more to
do with Billboards switch to monitored airplay & actual
sales in 1991. This resulted in songs having longer
chart-lifes, and left less room for newer songs to debut.
According to an article in the 12/05/1998 issue, the
reason for the new methodology to all genres was to
return the Hot 100 to the "variety-filled" chart it
started out as in 1958.
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Hykker
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JMD1961 wrote:
I think the drop in number of songs each
year had more to
do with Billboards switch to monitored airplay & actual
sales in 1991. This resulted in songs having longer
chart-lifes, and left less room for newer songs to debut.
According to an article in the 12/05/1998 issue, the
reason for the new methodology to all genres was to
return the Hot 100 to the "variety-filled" chart it
started out as in 1958. |
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Another factor not yet mentioned is the tighter playlists
of the last 25 years or so. Stations aren't adding
untested songs anymore unlike they did years ago.
As far as incorporating non-pop sales and airplay into
the Hot 100, IMHO this is as it should be...the 100 most
popular songs, period, regardless of genre.
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aaronk
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| Posted: 01 July 2019 at 8:35am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. The fact that songs were staying on
the chart longer, as well as tighter playlists, makes sense. I also agree
that the Hot 100 should be the most popular songs, regardless of
genre. Did Hot 100 airplay always include multiple formats, or was that
chart also restricted to top 40? The reason I ask is because it there are
a number of alternative and urban songs with the [AIR] symbol in the
Whitburn book. Were those formats included, too?
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 01 July 2019 at 10:42am | IP Logged
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Aaron, prior to December 5, 1998, Country stations were
not part of the Hot 100 Airplay panel. On November 28,
1998, there were a total of 365 stations, and on December
5, 1998 that total was 756 stations! As has already been
stated, the reason all those Country songs started
charting was because of the change in airplay. Many
other formats (including R&B & Mainstream Rock) were also
added at that time. Rhythmic Top 40, Adult Top 40 and
Modern Rock stations were factored in as early as 1993,
so that's why you see so many Urban and Modern Rock songs
with the [AIR] symbol.
As far as total Hot 100 hits in any given year, that's
actually been climbing again in recent years, thanks to
streaming, when every song from a hot album (usually rap)
can now chart.
Edited by Paul Haney on 01 July 2019 at 10:48am
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RoknRobnLoxley
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Thanks for the tip on this 12-5-98 article in Billboard, I just looked it up. I had known that BB had changed the Hot 100 back then, but had forgotten all the specifics of this 1998 change. Here are some bullet points from the article that I found most interesting:
--The Hot 100 prior to this 12-5-98 change had been based on singles sales plus radio station airplay in the formats of: mainstream top 40, rhythmic top 40, adult top 40, adult contemporary, and modern rock. Effective at this change, they added these radio formats into the mix: R&B, adult R&B, mainstream rock, triple-A rock, and country.
--Airplay only tracks now qualified for the Hot 100.
--The Hot 100 retail component (single sales) was adjusted DOWN, from 40% to 25%.
--It it will now be difficult for a radio-only song to rise all the way to #1.
--Radio-only songs would only be eligible for the Hot 100 IF they broke the Top 75 of the Hot 100 Airplay chart.
--The Hot 100 will now be song driven, no more double-A-sided singles. Sales will be assigned to the most popular airplay side. The less popular airplay side will only chart based on its airplay.
--A new POP chart was started, Top 40 Tracks, on which pop and rock singles would compete with one another, based on radio airplay only, from these charts: mainstream top 40, rhythmic top 40, adult top 40.
So that was the deal. No more would the Hot 100 be based on pop radio formats + sales, but instead on all radio formats plus sales. No mention of jazz, classical, or other, which may not have charted if they had been included. But of course since then, BB has modified everything yet again, multiple times...
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aaronk
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| Posted: 01 July 2019 at 11:25am | IP Logged
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As always, great info! This really helps explain what was happening after the transition.
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 01 July 2019 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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FYI, all of that also applies to the "Bubbling Under The
Hot 100" chart as well. They've also added Latin and
Christian airplay since 1998.
Another interesting fact is that all of the "other" main
charts are now based on the same Hot 100 formula.
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Hykker
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RoknRobnLoxley wrote:
--The Hot 100 will now be song
driven, no more double-A-sided singles. Sales will be
assigned to the most popular airplay side. The less
popular airplay side will only chart based on its airplay.
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Are physical singles still being issued (other than perhaps
promos)? Seems to me the concept of a 2 sided hit went
away with 45s, or at least physical singles.
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PopArchivist
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Hykker wrote:
RoknRobnLoxley wrote:
--The Hot 100 will now be song
driven, no more double-A-sided singles. Sales will be
assigned to the most popular airplay side. The less
popular airplay side will only chart based on its airplay.
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Are physical singles still being issued (other than perhaps
promos)? Seems to me the concept of a 2 sided hit went
away with 45s, or at least physical singles.
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The physical single is a very rare event that is virtually extinct. Maroon 5 & Cardi B's Girls Like You was not on Red Pill Blues for example and was issued as a digital single and hit #1 based on the video streaming as well.
You can't really have a 2 sided hit anymore (not in the traditional 1960's/1970's way.) I would say the two instances most recently that hit #1 are more remix issues of the same song replacing the original versions:
Perfect by Ed Sheeran had a few weeks before Ed and Beyonce's Remix Duet took its place for the remaining weeks at #1. Technically the Duet with Beyonce could be the A side while the album cut would also represent the A side.
Old Town Road by Lil Nas X rose to #1 and then during its #2 week through its current #13 week has Billy Ray Cyrus added through its remix. Technically the Remix with Billy Ray could be the A side while the eventual album cut would also represent the A side.
So in the sense of a traditional 45 no, but there are some instances where the remix (Me Gente)(Despacito) is clearly the winner (A-side, preferred by radio and streaming) and the original versions clearly relegated to hits in their own right as Me Gente finished top 20 before the remix and Despacito outside the top 40 before Justin Bieber joined the remix.
Edited by PopArchivist on 02 July 2019 at 2:17am
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 02 July 2019 at 3:27am | IP Logged
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What makes all of that even more confusing is that
Billboard combines the various remixes together. They
bill whichever version is getting the most points in any
given week. Makes for headaches for us trying to compile
the info later on.
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Paul C
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| Posted: 12 July 2019 at 11:15am | IP Logged
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As others have stated above, after Billboard started to incorporate airplay data from country stations in compiling the Hot 100 on December 5, 1998, numerous non-crossover country songs started making the Top 40 of the Hot 100, most of them solely from country airplay. The number of non-crossover country songs reaching the Top 40 of the Hot 100 significantly fell once Billboard started to include digital sales data in compiling the Hot 100 on February 5, 2005.
Here are a few stats I happen to have handy. Between these two dates (December 5, 1998 and February 5, 2005) a total of 121 songs reached #1 in country airplay. Of these, only two ("Right On The Money" by Alan Jackson and "Kiss This" by Aaron Tippin) did not reach the Top 40 of the Hot 100. (Of course, many country songs that did not reach #1 in country airplay also made the Top 40 of the Hot 100.) Just a few weeks after Billboard started incorporating digital sales data in compiling the Hot 100, Craig Morgan's "That's What I Love About Sunday" was #1 in country airplay for four weeks but only reached #51 on the Hot 100. Before the end of that year, five other songs would reach #1 in country airplay but not make the Top 40 of the Hot 100. Last year, of the 33 songs that reached #1 in country airplay, 17 did not reach the Top 40 of the Hot 100.
The inclusion of streaming data in Billboard's secret Hot 100 formula (which, I understand, is guarded at Fort Knox next to the Colonel's secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices and Cadbury's technique of getting the caramel inside the chocolate squares) does not seem to be significantly affecting the number of country songs that reach the Top 40 of the Hot 100 but does seem to be affecting how high some of these songs are charting. Three current country songs, "Whiskey Glasses" by Morgan Wallen, "God's Country" by Blake Shelton, and "Beer Never Broke My Heart" by Luke Combs, have each reached #22 or higher on the Hot 100. I don't believe any of these three songs are receiving any significant non-country airplay.
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Topic: Country on the Hot 100 in 1999, 2000...
