Billboard

Billboard is the Internet arm of Billboard magazine, the world's premier music publication. Every Thursday, dozens of the Billboard magazine's famous charts of U.S. sales, airplay, downloads and box office grosses are previewed for the public consumption and exploration. Billboard does not use mediabase chart but Neilson Broadcast Data systems and Soundscan to determine chart positions Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems is the world's leading provider of airplay tracking for the entertainment industry. Nielsen BDS captures in excess of 100 million song detections annually on more than 1,400 radio stations in over 130 markets in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) and 22 Canadian markets. Radio formats monitored include Adult Alternative, Adult Contemporary, Album Rock, Classic Rock, Contemporary Christian, Country, Modern Rock, Oldies, R&B (including Rap and Hip Hop), Spanish (including Latin Contemporary, Regional Mexican and Tropical Salsa), and Top 40. Additionally, Nielsen BDS monitors 12 U.S. Music Video Channels and 8 Canadian Video Channels. Nielsen BDS information is utilized exclusively by Billboard, Airplay Monitor and Canadian Music Network magazines in determining their radio airplay music charts.

The Billboard Hot 100

This is the main singles chart. It combines airplay from radio stations of ALL formats and sales (both digital downloads & physical single sales). Digital downloads now have a major factor in the charts. It is impossible to reach the top 10 on airplay alone but not impossible to reach it on digital downloads. Now that downloads have been added to the charts, more genres have the opportunity to reach #1. Previous years R&B and HipHop dominated the charts because their radio stations had the largest listening audiences Airplay is measured as "audience impressions." That is the number of times a song has been played at a radio station multiplied by the audience numbers for that station at the times the song was played. A song played during a morning show will reach more people than slow jams at midnight. In Urban music the most important audience is the morning syndication audience.Audience impressions are measured in the millions and will range on the charts from 4 million to 200 million. The sales portion combines physical sales of retail singles and individual downloads of the song .A physical sale and a digital download counts the same even though the price is different,physical sales are very low right now, for most of the artists the digital downloads is really what drives the sales.

Billboard Hot Airplay

This is the main airplay chart. It is the top audience impressions from all genres combined. An artist must be on the Hot 100 chart to be on the Hot Airplay.Only the top 75 songs are listed. An Artist can be Top 10 Airplay but only Top 40 on the Hot 100 Chart if they do not have downloads and physical sales.

The Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent

Hot 100 Recurrent lists the top recurrent singles and tracks that have appeared on the Hot 100. Songs are removed from the Hot 100 and Hot 100 Airplay charts simultaneously if they have been on the Hot 100 for more than 20 weeks and rank below No. 50.

Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay

Airplay monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay lists the top recurrent singles and tracks that have appeared on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. Songs are removed from the Hot 100 and Hot 100 Airplay charts simultaneously if they have been on the Hot 100 for more than 20 weeks and rank below No. 50.

The Billboard Pop 100

Pop 100 is short for the 100 most popular songs from all genres. The major difference between the Hot 100 and The Pop 100 is The Pop 100 does not rely as much on airplay. Pop 100 is very fan driven. Artist that have a significant amount of downloads are on the Pop 100 charts. Airplay is secondary

Hot R&BHipHop Singles& Tracks

The most popular singles and tracks, according to radio audience impressions measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan from a subset panel of core R&B/Hip-Hop stores, and playlists from select non-monitored radio stations.

Hot R&BHipHopReccurrent

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Recurrents lists the top recurrent singles and tracks that have appeared on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Tracks chart. Songs are removed from the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts simultaneously if they have been on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for more than 20 weeks and rank below No. 50.

Hot R&B and HipHop Airplay

Airplay monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Songs ranked by gross impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of airplay with Arbitron listener data. This data is used in the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Tracks chart.

Urban AC

UrbanAC is for the mature audiences. An Urban AC song can receive airplay on Urban Station but will usually find small success crossing over to other formats. Urban AC also contains gospel and inspirational music. It is a very small format and very hard format to find a home if you are a young artist.

Hot R&B HipHopReccurant Airplay

Airplay monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Ranks the top 25 titles which have already appeared on the Hot R&B Singles chart for 20 weeks and have dropped below the top 50. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay lists the top recurrent singles and tracks that have appeared on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Songs are removed from the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Tracks and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts simultaneously if they have been on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Tracks for more than 20 weeks and rank below No. 50.

Bubbling Under R&BHipHop Singles

Lists the top 25 singles under number 100 position on the Hot R&B Singles chart. Bubbling Under titles have not yet charted on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

Hot 100 Single Sales

This chart measures physical single sales. Digital downloads are counted only if all the songs available on a physical retail single are downloaded together using the "buy album" option. Digital downloads of a single song (or individual downloads of all the songs in a physical single) are not counted. Only the top 50 positions are listed.

Hot R&B HipHop Single Sales

Sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. This data is also used in the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

Hot Digital Songs

This chart counts only digital downloads of individual songs. Downloads of entire albums (or of all the songs in a physical single using the "buy album") option are not counted. If several versions of the same song are offered, for example a "clean" version, an "explicit" version, or multiple dance remixes, then downloads of all the different versions are combined together. The top 75 positions are listed

Hot Digital Tracks

Like the Hot Digital Songs chart, the Hot Digital Tracks counts only digital downloads of individual songs. The main difference is that the Hot Digital Songs chart combines downloads of different versions of the same song, while the Hot Digital Tracks chart counts downloads of different versions of the same song independently. Each version of the song is measured as an individual track, and each may chart separately. Thus theoretically one song may chart multiple times in the Hot Digital Tracks. For example, the "explicit" version of one song may be #17, while the "clean version" is #3 and a "dance remix" is #26. The top 50 positions are listed.

The Billboard 200

Lists the top 200 albums based on sales as reported by Soundscan. Albums that are more than 2 years old and ranked below #100 are considered catalog albums and are not listed

Billboard Comprehensive Albums

This is similar to the Billboard 200, except that it also includes catalog albums that are excluded from the Billboard 200. The other difference is that albums that are marketed exclusively through one or two retailers do not qualify for the Billboard 200, but do qualify for the Comprehensive Albums chart if the retailer reports the sales. The top 200 albums are listed

Top Internet Album Sales

Lists the top 25 albums ordered through internet stores. This chart is for sales of physical albums through internet retailers such as Amazon.com. Digital downloads of albums are not included. Catalog albums can also chart here.

RIAA Certifications

RIAA (Recording Industry Associatin of America) gives gold, platinum and diamond certificatin for albums and singles. Certifications are for units shipped to retailers, not necessarily those sold to customers. Certification is not automatic, but has to be requested (and paid for) the label, and the label also has to supply the paperwork verifying the quantity of CDs shipped. The RIAA usually requires at least 4 weeks after the albums have been shipped before it can be certified, just in case retailers return the album shipments to the stores. "Double albums" are counted as 2 CDs, so if a double album sells 1 million it can be certified as double platinum.

Album certifications

Diamond - 10 million Platinum - 1 million Gold - 500,000

Physical single certifications

Platinum - 1 million Gold 500,000

Digital Downloads of individual Song Certification

Platinum - 200,000 Gold - 100,000