https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:16:14 +0000 Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:51:14 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=10054 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64535&title=chart-year-breaks#64535 Author: torcan
Subject: 10054
Posted: 11 March 2024 at 3:51pm

hellogator wrote: I also played music trivia during a Disney Cruise, and I kept messing up the dates because I had no idea "Ride Like The Wind" by Christopher Cross was released in 1979, because I never heard it once until 1980. There were quite a few songs I missed because the debut date was the year prior to when it was very popular.

That's a tricky one. The album was recorded and ready in
fall 1979, but according to producer Michael O'Martian in
a Billboard article, wasn't released until January 1980.
At the time they thought the fall of 1979 was too
competitive and waited until after Christmas when things
were much quieter. Obviously, it worked!

]]> Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:51:14 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64535&title=chart-year-breaks#64535 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64531&title=chart-year-breaks#64531 Author: ChicagoBill
Subject: 10054
Posted: 11 March 2024 at 10:33am

Just for fun, I looked up in the archives, the single, "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees, and what we
reported in the first few weeks of its release. On November 28, we reported we sold 31 copies which placed
it at #3 in its first week (It was a short week because of the T-Day holiday). Week #2 (Dec. 5), we sold 37
copies placing it on our list @ #2. On December 12th, we reported selling 91 copies placing it at #1 just
above "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron". On December 19th, we reported selling 120 copies in the past 7 days, still
holding @ #1. December 27th, reported selling 139 copies, still at #1. January 3rd reported 165 copies sold
and still #1. It wasn't until the next week, January 9th when "I'm A Believer" was knocked out of 1st by
"Georgy Girl" Life in retail! -Bill.]]> Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:33:54 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64531&title=chart-year-breaks#64531 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64530&title=chart-year-breaks#64530 Author: ChicagoBill
Subject: 10054
Posted: 11 March 2024 at 10:09am

I have a unique perspective of relating music to dates. I took over an ongoing record store in 1971
that opened in 1941, and I took it all the way up to 1994. We had a subscription to Billboard almost
that entire time. In order to be competitive, I had to jump on new releases faster than the other
record outlets on the northwest side of Chicago. I couldn't rely on the salesmen from record
companies to know their new releases. That's where Billboard came in. We also reported our exact
sales to WLS, WCFL, and others including trade publications. -Bill.]]> Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:09:01 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64530&title=chart-year-breaks#64530 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64527&title=chart-year-breaks#64527 Author: hellogator
Subject: 10054
Posted: 11 March 2024 at 7:56am

ChicagoBill wrote: I've always gone with the chart debut date. I think of "I'm A Believer" as a hit from 1966. I can think about what I was doing when I first heard the song. That gave me my first impression, and to me, that's what counts. -Bill.

My only concern with debut date is that it isn't how we
remember it. I saw a book listing the best-selling albums
of all-time and it was organized by decade, but it used
the debut date, so it claims that Pink Floyd "The Wall"
was one of the best selling albums of the 70's. I was
shocked to see that.

I also played music trivia during a Disney Cruise, and I
kept messing up the dates because I had no idea "Ride
Like The Wind" by Christopher Cross was released in 1979,
because I never heard it once until 1980.
There were quite a few songs I missed because the debut
date was the year prior to when it was very popular.

Edited by hellogator]]> Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:56:59 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64527&title=chart-year-breaks#64527 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64470&title=chart-year-breaks#64470 Author: Vince
Subject: 10054
Posted: 03 March 2024 at 3:25pm

A possible option is to put the song in the year that most of its peak weeks are in. So for example, a song like "I'm A Believer" would go in 1967 since 6 of 7 weeks were at #1 were in 1967. But "Physical " would go in 1981 since 6 of 10 weeks at #1 were in 1981. If the song split evenly then go with year it had the most point.

Edited by Vince]]> Sun, 03 Mar 2024 15:25:42 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64470&title=chart-year-breaks#64470 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64454&title=chart-year-breaks#64454 Author: RoknRobnLoxley
Subject: 10054
Posted: 27 February 2024 at 7:27am

I agree, put the record in the year where it achieved the most chart points. Rank it
there, but also calculate the rank of each year, using each year's separate chart
points, and put that info in there somewhere, either in parentheses or a side
note/footnote. So all info is recorded, history as it was !!

[Back in the day when I made my mix tapes, taping songs off the radio, I put a song on
my tape when it first made the local Top 40 countdown, or the first time I heard it.
Kinda like debut date. And I love those old tapes, without regard to when the song
actually peaked. They are now all automatically in my head, I know which song is coming
up next, ha.]]]> Tue, 27 Feb 2024 07:27:59 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64454&title=chart-year-breaks#64454 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64448&title=chart-year-breaks#64448 Author: JMD1961
Subject: 10054
Posted: 26 February 2024 at 3:08pm

I want to thank everyone for their input. Though, we
don't all agree on the particulars, I know that we all do
this out of a shared love of music and music history.

I'm currently leaning toward placing a track into the
year where it earned the most points. Yeah, this is
going to cause some cases where a song will not end up in
the year where it reached its highest chart position.
And I know that will not sit well with some. Hell, I've
had instances when it didn't sit well with me.

But I've had those instances no matter what method I've
tried to use. And its because of those instances that
I'll stop and reconsider how I'm going to do it. And the
project stops and, in most cases, gets restarted. If I
don't make up my mind and stick to a method, I'm never
going to get this done.]]> Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:08:46 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64448&title=chart-year-breaks#64448 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64446&title=chart-year-breaks#64446 Author: JMD1961
Subject: 10054
Posted: 26 February 2024 at 2:58pm

NightAire wrote: Piggybacking off what CountryPD said, if there are multiple weeks at #1 you could easily go with the last week the song was at #1 and the audience would likely buy into your date. For me, I look at the MIDDLE date the song is at #1 as its peak week of interest. If it was #1 3 weeks in 1982 and #4 weeks in 1983, it's a 1983 song in my book. I've had one music history fanatic catch me for not having a song identified by its release year... but no other listeners have expressed any concern on any of my dates. Good luck!!

The problem I'm seeing with using the peak position is
that it doesn't always give a clear indication of the
popularity of a record. I'm seeing a lot of cases (I'm
working in the early 60's right now) where a track will
reach it's peak in the first few weeks of its run, then
drop just a few spots and meander around in that general
area for several weeks after that.

Though we like to think that a song is less popular if
its at #23 than at #20, the truth is that a lot of that
depends on how popular the songs around it were in that
particular week. There have actually been cases where a
record will make a backwards move on the chart, but
maintain its bullet because it was actually GAINING at
the time.

So, it a record peaks at #20 on the final week of the
year, but spends the next month or more between #22 and
#25, its possible for it to actual accumulate more points
after reaching its peak than before.

So, as I stated, no single rule will satisfy all
instances. ]]> Mon, 26 Feb 2024 14:58:02 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64446&title=chart-year-breaks#64446 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64445&title=chart-year-breaks#64445 Author: JMD1961
Subject: 10054
Posted: 26 February 2024 at 2:45pm

Brian W. wrote: For my own year-by-year comps, I use peak date minus 10 days for the year-break point. I want to go by the actual data gathering week, and ten days is a pretty good rough estimate for most of the Hot 100. (Prior to the Hot 100, they published the actual week ending dates on the charts as well, and for those years I use the actual dates.) I think during the 1990s, they actual did reveal their current chart gathering week, and at that time it was 11 days prior to the issue date for the airplay portion and 13 days prior for the sales portion. So on my comps, "Please Don't Go" goes in 1979, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" goes in 1969, etc.

As I said in my reply to Paul, I'd considered doing
exactly that. And for the exact reasons you give. But,
right or wrong, the official chart date has become the
history. So, I made the decision to treat them as such.
]]> Mon, 26 Feb 2024 14:45:47 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64445&title=chart-year-breaks#64445 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64444&title=chart-year-breaks#64444 Author: JMD1961
Subject: 10054
Posted: 26 February 2024 at 2:41pm

EdisonLite wrote: I think most of us would agree that a song that crosses over between 2 years shouldn't have its points divided between years. A #1 song could not make the top 100 songs of either year, that way! let's say you mainly went with the year the song peaked, but you found an instance, where say: the song peaked at #1 on Jan. 10th 1973 and spent 6 weeks on the chart in 1973, but spent 12 weeks on the chart in 1972, you could make an argument that it felt more like a hit in 1972.

I totally agree that a song should be given its entire
chart run to determine its placement. Though, later, I
intend to use just the points in each year for comparison
sake.

Your fictional example is pretty close to what actually
happened with "Please Don't Go". On Jan. 5th, the 20th
week of a 26-week chart run, it finally reached the #1
position. Six weeks later, it was completely off the
chart. So, 19-weeks (or 73%) of its time on the chart
was in 1979.
]]> Mon, 26 Feb 2024 14:41:14 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10054&PID=64444&title=chart-year-breaks#64444