Country on the Hot 100 (1998 and Prior)

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   Wow, I was not expecting so many replies...thank you 

all!  Unfortunately, the 4/9/88 issue saved on 

americanradiohistory.com does not have the insert and 

Google Books does not even have that issue.

This does explain why country essentially disappeared 

from the Hot 100 in the late '80's until the Soundscan 

era began.  (Ironically, so many country songs charted 

thereafter since a record label was more likely to 

release a country cassingle than a pop one hoping to 

drive album sales instead.)

Here's another example from my original question - 

Johnny Lee's "Bet Your Heart On Me."  It spent a week 

atop the Country chart and made # 54 on the Hot 100.  

Was it a pop crossover just as "Lookin' For Love" was 

(# 3 Pop, # 10 AC)?  Or did it just sell so well that 

it was able to chart that high on the Hot 100?  "Bet" 

never reached the AC chart.

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Scanner Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 14 August 2019 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Scanner Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 September 2019 at 3:40pm
	Wow, I was not expecting so many replies...thank you all! Unfortunately, the 4/9/88 issue saved on americanradiohistory.com does not have the insert and Google Books does not even have that issue. This does explain why country essentially disappeared from the Hot 100 in the late '80's until the Soundscan era began. (Ironically, so many country songs charted thereafter since a record label was more likely to release a country cassingle than a pop one hoping to drive album sales instead.) Here's another example from my original question - Johnny Lee's "Bet Your Heart On Me." It spent a week atop the Country chart and made # 54 on the Hot 100. Was it a pop crossover just as "Lookin' For Love" was (# 3 Pop, # 10 AC)? Or did it just sell so well that it was able to chart that high on the Hot 100? "Bet" never reached the AC chart.

Paul Haney Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 01 April 2005 Status: Offline Points: 31	Post Options Post Reply Quote Paul Haney Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 September 2019 at 4:04am
	I can confirm that indeed it first appeared in the Billboard issue dated April 9, 1988. Here is the link for the insert: https://americanradiohistory.com/ ArchiveBillboard/Billboard-How-we-track-the-hits.pdf As for "Bet Your Heart On Me" I would guess that it got at least some Top 40 airplay in 1981, but not enough to make much of a dent on the Hot 100. As a #1 Country hit, I'm sure most of its points came from sales. Edited by Paul Haney

Scanner Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 14 August 2019 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Scanner Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 September 2019 at 7:29pm
	Thanks for the link, Paul. This explains why the country superstars of the late '80's such as Randy Travis and the Judds never charted on the Hot 100. Although they likely had the sales, they did not have the crossover airplay. It would have been interesting if Billboard had published something like this in the '70's as well.

RoknRobnLoxley Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 25 October 2017 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote RoknRobnLoxley Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 01 October 2019 at 4:48am
	Hmmm... this link doesn't work for me for some strange reason, "page not found." But I probably have this insert in my stash upstairs in a box. I noticed that a lot of the UK chart magazines on AmericanRadioHistory.com have suddenly vanished from the overhead menu boxes, but are still in the home page index. Scared me for a sec! Then read over on the 'site features-latest additions' that David has been reorganizing the UK magazines and search capabilities. Maybe he's moving around Billboard archive special pdf's as well. It sure would be fab if we could get all these special Billboard rules across the decades listed and documented somewhere. I agree that updates to methodology are needed as technology advances, yada yada, but there sure were/are a lot of manipulative chart rules that Billboard put on over the years to favor some records over others. New records over old records. The UK likewise now has all these special chart rules put in to deal with streaming. It sure is crazy these days as to what a 'single' is, but I digress... Edit: Ha, I discovered the insert off to the side, Paul's link needed a www. for me to work: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/Billb oard-How-we-track-the-hits.pdf Dagnabbit, the link isn't being saved correctly, you'll need to close the space between the b and the o in the second Billboard. Edited by RoknRobnLoxley