How were the 50th Anniversary Billboard Hot 100 song charts determined?
The 50th Anniversary Hot 100 Song and Artist charts are based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100, since the chart’s inception in August 1958 through the issue dated July 26, 2008. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. Prior to the Hot 100’s implementation in 1991 of enhanced radio and sales information from Nielsen BDS and Nielsen SoundScan, songs had shorter reigns at No. 1 and shorter chart lives. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from all 50 years, earlier time frames were each weighted to compensate for the differences in the faster turnover rates from those earlier decades, compared to the slower churn the Hot 100 has seen since the advent of Nielsen Music data. Before that conversion, UB40’s cover of “Red, Red Wine,” which was on the chart for 40 weeks, and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” with 39 weeks, represented the longest chart stays ever
Related Questions
- Is this the same methodology that was used for the all-time charts in Billboards 100th Anniversary issue in 1994 or the 40th Anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988?
- Which song will be No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Issue September 19, 2009?
- How were the 50th Anniversary Billboard Hot 100 song charts determined?
