Wikipedia talk:Record charts/U.S. Billboard chart inclusion

Regarding U.S. Billboard chart inclusion
OK, putting aside international charts and non-Billboard U.S. charts (ARC Weekly Top 40, Cash Box), let's come to a consensus regarding the notability of these. Below is a list of the more "important" charts, with my own comments. Feel free to add, subtract, comment, suggest, etc. - eo (talk) 13:24, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I've added a few comments under Hot 100 airplay, Bubbling under, Rock and Pop/Mainstream Top 40. Everything else I agree with. --Wolfer68 (talk) 21:39, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Billboard Hot 100

 * Yes - This is a given; the industry standard. Combination of radio airplay and physical/digital sales as tracked by Nielsen SoundScan.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Hot 100 Sales, Hot 100 Airplay, Hot Digital Songs, Hot Digital Tracks

 * No, with exceptions - Component charts. To be included in charts tables only when there is no charting action on the Hot 100.
 * I would add that it needs to have charted on another country's chart or U.S. genre chart; otherwise, notability would be an issue here anyway.
 * I agree with the above to list it IN A CHART only if it has charted elsewhere as there is no need to have a chart of ONLY one item. However, in such case, I would say that it could be mentioned in the article text. —Iknow23 (talk) 23:36, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles

 * No, with exceptions - To be included only when song has not charted on the Hot 100. When/if a song breaks into the Hot 100, this should be removed.
 * As above, a song that only charts here would need some other claim of notability.
 * I agree with the above to list it IN A CHART only if it has charted elsewhere as there is no need to have a chart of ONLY one item. However, in such case, I would say that it could be mentioned in the article text. —Iknow23 (talk) 23:36, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Pop 100 defunct

 * Yes - Combination of select pop-music radio airplay and physical/digital sales as tracked by Nielsen SoundScan. Verifiable and easily sourced.

Pop 100 Airplay defunct

 * No, with exceptions - Component chart. To be included in charts tables only when there is no charting action on the Pop 100.

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

 * Yes - The industry standard for R&B/soul/hip-hop. This chart has been around since the 1940s and is based on sales and airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Sales, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

 * No, with exceptions - Component charts. To be included in charts tables only when there is no charting action on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

 * No, with exceptions - To be included only when song has not charted on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. When/if a song breaks into the main chart, this should be removed.

Hot Rap Tracks

 * Yes - The industry standard for rap. This chart has been around since the 1980s and is based on sales and airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Hot Country Songs

 * Yes - The industry standard for country music. This chart has been around since the 1940s and is based on sales and airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Hot Mainstream Rock, Hot Modern Rock

 * Yes - The industry standard for rock music. Mainstream has been around since the 1970s, Modern Rock came along in the 1980s.  These charts started off very different but overlap a lot in recent years.  Verifiable and easily sourced. This will have to be updated since the absorption of Radio & Records' charts.  Besides these two there is now Rock Tracks (which combines all of them), Heritage Rock, Active Rock, etc., etc.
 * Rock - yes. Heritage and Active - no. too small of a subset. Alternative and mainstream - Should be out from the inception of the overall Rock chart. Redundant and overkill to list more than 1 rock chart. (Ok if it doesn't chart on Rock Songs).

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

 * Yes - The industry standard for easy listening/adult contemporary songs. This chart has been around since the 1960s and is based on airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Hot Dance Club Play

 * Yes - The industry standard for dance music. This started as a disco chart in the 1970s and is not a component chart of anything else.  Based solely on club DJ reporting and regularly includes artists and record labels that never chart anywhere else.

Hot Dance Singles Sales, Hot Dance Airplay

 * No - These are component charts. Dance singles sales are so minimal and insignificant at this point, the figures are barely notable (used to be titled "Maxi-singles sales").  The dance airplay panel consists of only seven U.S. radio stations with a dance format.

Hot Latin Tracks

 * Yes - The industry standard for Latin songs. This chart has been around since the 1970s and is based on airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Latin Rhythm Tracks

 * No - Component chart. This is a specialized subset of Latin radio stations (ten of them); the chart is based on airplay only.

Hot Christian Songs

 * Yes - The industry standard for contemporary christian songs. This chart is based on airplay.  Verifiable and easily sourced.

Top 40 Mainstream, Rhythmic Top 40, Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks

 * No - These are component charts. They are based on airplay-only of a small subset of pop/R&B/dance-oriented stations.  Not broad enough to be notable in a charts table.
 * I'm for including Top 40 mainstream/Pop Songs. It specifically measures airplay on Top 40 stations and there are more of those being monitored than AC stations, also an airplay-only chart.

Hot Ringtones, Hot RingMasters

 * No - Based on cell phone ringtone sales. Not notable.  The Donkey Kong theme song spent like a zillion weeks at #1 here.  Enough said.

Hot Videoclips

 * No - Not notable. This is a straightforward ranking of music videos played on channels like MTV, VH1 and video-countdown type shows, which in turn are programmed by the corporations broadcasting them.

ALL CHARTS: Recurrents

 * No - Not notable. Songs are moved here after they have finished their run on whichever "main" chart.  They can sit here for months or years and a ranking on here really doesn't mean very much in the grand scheme of things.

Comments
This pretty much sums up my opinion on the charts, except for one thing: the genre-specific component charts. If an R&B song fails to enter the hot 100, pop 100, and hot R&B but manages to barely chart on R&B sales OR airplay, wouldn't notability be an issue?? Current Billboard methodology indicates that a song can chart on the strength of sales or airplay, not both, so chances are that if a song fails to chart on the main charts, then its component values (sales or airplay) must be relatively low. SKS2K6 (talk) 16:20, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed with SKS2K6, but to a further extent. If a song charts successfully (and by successfully, I meant it simply charts) on an international non-component chart, then the Billboard component charts can be used to show how close a song was able to chart on the actual chart. Otherwise, as SKS2K6 said above, there would be a notability issue. Also, aren't Hot 100 Sales, Hot 100 Airplay, Hot Digital Songs and Hot Digital Tracks component charts of the component chart Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles? Correct me if I'm wrong. Diverse  Mentality  19:49, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
 * All those charts are technically for both, as the Bubbling Under chart is an extension of the Hot 100 (so #101 - #125 or whatever the last position is). SKS2K6 (talk) 20:04, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, if the Bubbling Under is an extension, but a component chart at the same time, I don't really see why Hot 100 Sales, Hot 100 Airplay, etc., should be included. Diverse Mentality  22:57, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I have found one song that charted on the Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay chart but never on the Hot 100 or Hot 100 Airplay, specifically this one. Surely that's an exception worth noting. Ten Pound Hammer  and his otters • (Broken clamshells • Otter chirps • HELP) 16:03, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Bubbling Under should be a seperate table section as songs that bubble under havne't actually charted. the chart goes to 100, not to 101 or 125. Alankc (talk) 19:25, 18 April 2009 (UTC)


 * With the addition of the Rock Songs chart, what do you suggest here? Obviously, Alternative and Hot Mainstream Rock are now only component charts to the Rock Songs chart, which itself an airplay-only chart only, is a component to the Hot 100. Mainstream rock isn't even notable enough to include in its print or online editions. Since Billboard seems to be treating all their genre charts equally, listing Pop Songs first among them, isn't it bias on anyone's part to exclude one over the other. Especially since sources on these articles here are either nonexistent or out of date. Another site, Radio-info.com, also treats these various genre charts equally. So why not allow the main genre charts but not components of these components (e.g. Pop Songs/Top 40 ok but not Adult Pop/Top 40 (more of a subset than a component); Latin but not Latin pop; etc.) --Wolfer68 (talk) 15:42, 30 October 2009 (UTC)


 * ^ "So why not allow the main genre charts" + "The component charts should be specifically defined as the Hot 100 Airplay, Digital Songs, Singles Sales charts and different criteria should define the inclusion of the genre charts.", Wolfer68 said elsewhere.
 * Expanding on those ideas, maybe we should change the component charts ruling into two sections.
 * GENERALLY DISALLOWED COMPONENT CHARTS, wherein they can be used ONLY IF it fails to chart on the main charts. Such as the use of Hot 100 Airplay, Hot Singles Sales, etc. when it doesn't appear in the Hot 100.
 * GENRE CHARTS, which are always allowed even if a 'component' of other charts. But NOT components of them, UNLESS it fails to chart in the 'main' genre chart. HOWEVER, NEVER use the components of the genre charts themselves, if it charts in an overall chart such as Hot 100.—Iknow23 (talk) 23:57, 5 November 2009 (UTC)