Hello ATRL.

Inspired by fellow ATRL user alexanderao’s airplay guide (which can be

found on old ATRL), I decided to create a double-guide explaining the Billboard Hot
100 (will be referred to with the abbreviation “H100” interchangeably) and the Official
Charts Company’s (will be referred to with “OCC” interchangeably) UK Singles
Chart.
These two charts have both been going through multiple changes as of late, and due
to this, many people have been left behind in the dust, being confused without
knowing where exactly to refer to. With this guide, I hope to resolve many questions
and issues that ATRLers (and non-ATRLers, too) may have involving the Billboard
Hot 100 and OCC UK Singles Chart.
First, we’ll start with the Holy Bible of the music industry, the Billboard Hot 100.

What is the Billboard Hot 100? (And more!)

A brief history
The Billboard Hot 100 (H100) is a record chart published weekly by the trade
magazine Billboard. The H100 was premiered as the first major all-encompassing
singles popularity chart on the 4th of August 1958. The chart was originally made
using a formula that combined retail sales, DJ plays (then called “disk jockey plays”),
and jukebox activity. This was collected through surveys of retailers, radio station
DJs, and jukebox operators.
Throughout many years, the formula for the H100 has changed to represent new
forms of consumption by the general public and industry changes. Eventually,
jukebox activity was no longer tracked by the H100 as jukeboxes fell out of public
favour. The Hot 100 ended up being made up of merely two components: sales and
airplay audience impressions (“AI”, also will be referred to as “airplay” as they are
used interchangeably in Hot 100 lingo).
The Hot 100 continued to be compiled by national surveys of retailers and DJs until
the Billboard issue dated 30th November 1991. This was when Nielsen SoundScan
officially replaced the use of surveys to collect data to create the Hot 100. With the
combination of accurate sales figures (instead of ranked lists, which is what retailers
had sent for the decades prior) and electronically-monitored AI data (compiled by
Nielsen BDS), the Hot 100 transformed from using surveys of radio airplay and retail
sales to using actual, precise data.
But for many more years, the chart continued to be dominated by sales and airplay;
this all changed in 2007 when the Hot 100, for the first time, included on-demand
streaming (ODS). The ODS services that were first included were AOL Music and
Yahoo! Music. Despite this, ODS never truly made up a notable part of the Hot 100
formula; the Hot 100 continued to be primarily audience impressions and sales.
This all changed when the chart for the week ending the 3 rd of March 2013 was
released. Billboard had decided to include YouTube streams, including audio from
user-generated clips, granted that they are at least 30 seconds long. For the first
time, streaming had constituted a noticeable portion of the Hot 100.
With these changes, more songs that appealed to younger demographics as well as
hits fuelled by memes started to appear on the charts.
Fast forward a few years later, or rather the present, we find ourselves in what has
been dubbed the streaming era (not to be confused with the earlier phrase “Digital
Era”, which referred to the advent of digital sales). The Hot 100, as it is today, is
mostly impacted by streaming; radio has the second-highest impact, with sales
having the lowest impact.

So how is the Hot 100 actually comprised and what is the formula?
The Hot 100 is comprised using a formula that is mostly kept as a trade secret.
Streams, airplay, and sales are divided by certain numbers and are then added up to
create the charts. The resulting figures from these calculations are referred to as
points or point value. The “certain numbers” in question are the figures we never
actually see or hear about: they are determined by industry trends and the general
public’s music consumption. For example: as of late, sales have been weighed more
to reflect the fact that they have been sharply declining, while streaming has lost
some weight to reflect the fact that it has been sharply rising. However, whether or
not a format loses or gains weight in the formula does not necessarily change the
format-by-format composition of the Hot 100; the Hot 100’s points continue to still be
mostly determined by streaming figures.

I keep hearing about streaming weights. What exactly is it?

“Streaming weights” refers to the decision first made in October 2017 and finalised in
May 2018 by Billboard to change streaming’s impact towards the Hot 100.
In October 2017, Billboard announced that streaming on the Hot 100 would be going
through some changes. They announced that they would split streams based on
whether they were paid/“premium” streams (i.e. streams made by users on
subscription services like Spotify Premium and Apple Music), ad-supported/“free”
streams (i.e. streams made by users on free ad-supported services like Spotify Free
and YouTube), or programmed streams (i.e. streams made by users on programmed
radio-like services such as Pandora). Premium streams would keep the original
weight (one point value per play), while free streams would represent two-thirds of
the original point value per play, with programmed streams representing just one half
of the original point value per play.
These changes slightly improved the chart performance of songs heavily dependent
on airplay, while otherwise not really changing the chart that much.

What types of sales count?

Every mainstream sales format ever still counts for the Hot 100, although they
obviously have no impact in today’s climate. Cassettes, vinyl singles, CDs, 8-track,
digital download… you name it, it most likely technically still counts for the Hot 100.
The latest example of physical sales having notable impact on the Hot 100 is for the
chart dated the 2nd of April 2011. Lady Gaga’s single “Born This Way” managed to
beat Katy Perry and Kanye West’s “E.T.” in a very close race, thanks to CD singles.
The CD single sold 24k copies in its first week.
What streaming services count?
This is best explained in a table, especially given that they’re now weighed.
Streaming service Audio, or video? Paid, free, or programmed?

Amazon Music Unlimited Audio Paid

Amazon Prime Audio Paid
Apple Music Audio/Video Paid
AOL Radio Audio Programmed
Google Play Audio Paid
Google Radio Audio Programmed
iHeartRadio All Access/Plus Audio Paid
Medianet Audio Paid
Napster Audio Paid/Programmed
Pandora Audio Paid/Programmed
SoundCloud Audio Paid/Free
Slacker Audio Paid/Programmed
Spotify Audio Paid/Free
Tidal Audio Paid
YouTube/VEVO on YouTube Video Free
What the hell is recurrence, and why is it so goddamn
complicated?
Okay, I understand where you’re coming from. You’re trying to get a basic grasp on
the charts, and then you learn of recurrence. What is it, and why is it so confusing?
Recurrence is a chart policy implemented in 1991 with the advent of SoundScan in
the Hot 100, where older songs charting for a certain amount of time are
automatically kicked out the chart should they chart below or at a certain position.
The logic behind this new rule coming in with the SoundScan policy changes is that
because SoundScan accurately reflects how long a song lingers around in the
market (during the survey era, DJs and retailers filling out surveys were more
inclined to entirely remove songs that were deemed to be “on their way out”, causing
songs to fall fast off the charts), Billboard wanted to keep the Hot 100 fresh and
constantly representing new, breakout talent. With this came the first Hot 100
recurrence rule: should a song be at least 20 weeks old and chart below #50, it will
be removed from the charts. This rule was strict, and no exceptions were made. It
would be referred to as “the 50/20 rule”.
Fast forward about two decades later to 2011. The first week of the 2012 Billboard
chart year (more on what exactly is a chart year later) comes with a major change to
recurrence: any song, regardless of age or recurrence status, is allowed to chart if
only it musters enough chart points to chart at #50 or any position higher.
The first notable result of this change comes with a shocking event: legendary singer
Whitney Houston unfortunately passes away. The market’s response? Digital sales
of her classic single “I Will Always Love You” skyrocket 6723% to 195k during the
week of her death. The Hot 100’s response? “I Will Always Love You” re-enters at
#7.
Fast forward to the 29th of November that same year. Mariah Carey’s Christmas
classic anthem “All I Want for Christmas Is You” musters enough points but is shy of
the #50 threshold, according to Billboard.
These are just two of the first notable results.
Fast forward again to the 23rd of November 2015. Billboard implements a new
recurrence policy: as well as the 50/20 rule, there is now the 25/52 rule: any song
charting for at least 52 weeks that manages to go below #25 on an upcoming chart
will be deemed recurrent. This is in response to streaming, which allows tracks to
linger even longer on the charts.
But wait!, you say. This song and this other song re-entered even though they were
recurrent, and they surely did not meet the #50 threshold! Well yes, even though
recurrent songs are recurrent, in special cases, (such as an artist’s death, a song
that took a while to reach mainstream popularity, or a newfound mainstream interest)
Billboard’s chart team decides on a case-by-case basis if a recurrent song shall be
allowed to chart.
All-in-all, recurrence is basically a sham. It works a bit (such as when Christmas
songs start shooting up charts), but otherwise… it’s a shot in the dark.

What’s the tracking week?

The Billboard Hot 100’s tracking week depends on the format. I’ll sum it up in a
simple example:
 Friday, the 1st of January: the sales and streaming tracking week begins.
 Monday, the 4th of January: the airplay tracking week begins.
 Thursday, the 7th of January: the sales and tracking week ends.
 Sunday, the 10th of January: the airplay tracking week ends.
 Monday, the 11th of January: the Hot 100 top 10 preview is released.
 Tuesday, the 12th of January: the Hot 100 in full is released, with the chart
being dated the Saturday of that week (the 16th).
The Hot 100 top 10 preview is always released on a Monday unless that Monday is a
federal holiday or if there’s an issue. The same goes for the release of the Hot 100 in
its entirety. An infamous example of a chart-related/data-related issue delaying the
Hot 100 is the “High by the Beach” fiasco. To make a long story short, the Hot 100
top ten preview came out on Monday claiming Lana Del Rey’s new single “High by
the Beach” had debuted top 10. The chart, meant to come out on Tuesday, didn’t
come out on time. Billboard had then released an article that day saying that, due to
data errors, the Hot 100 had to be recalculated and “High by the Beach” had actually
debuted at #51. The full chart came out on Wednesday.
The Hot 100 runs on this tracking week to align with Global Release Date, where
every major market decided to release new music on Fridays and not the original
Tuesdays.
What is the “Billboard chart year”? How is the year-end compiled?
If you thought that the Year-End Hot 100 (YEH100) and Billboard’s other year-end
charts were actually based on the calendar, you’re wrong.
The Billboard chart year (CY) runs from the first week of December to the last week
of November. For example, the 2019 Billboard chart year runs from chart dated the
1st of December 2018 to the chart dated the 30th of November 2019. This offset
“year” allows for Billboard to compile the charts and release them to print on time.
All year-end charts published by Billboard use this calendar.
The YEH100 is compiled by simply calculating all of the chart points throughout the
chart year. Pre-SoundScan, the YEH100 was compiled by inverse points (with being
#1 giving you 100 points, and #100 1 point), with the song’s peak and number of
weeks also factoring into a song’s year-end position.

Why didn’t songs like No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” and Goo Goo
Dolls’ “Iris” chart? Weren’t those songs huge?
Indeed these songs were huge, they never charted on the Hot 100. To totally
understand why, you need to do some brushing up on the history of the music
industry.
From its inception until the chart dated the 5th of December 1998 (the start of the
1999 CY), the Hot 100 had one glaring rule that stayed consistent; no availability to
purchase, no chart. If a song were not available to be purchased as a single, it was
not allowed to chart, even if it were on airplay.
Starting in the 1990’s, major labels did not release singles for sale, as they claimed
that singles cannibalised album sales. As this belief began to take hold, singles
slowly were beginning to be phased out. Instead, labels would release singles for
airplay. This caused controversy within the industry as many called shenanigans on
this practise.
Labels would first have a single peak at airplay, and while peaking, they would put it
up for sale. This allowed for an artificially high debut. Another related phenomenon
would be the combination of this while the label would delete the single from their
catalogue after a week, allowing it to have a high debut with a slow descent as one-
time production would sell out.
Notable singles that followed this industry trend include No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”,
Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris”, and Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”.

What is the OCC UK Singles Chart? (And more!)

A brief history
The United Kingdom has had a slightly turbulent chart history.
Prior to 1969, there was no “official” songs chart or a definitive and universally
accepted chart. There were about three charts running against each other at the
same time in the same time period; New Music Express, Record Mirror, and Record
Retailer. All used the same “formula”: simply survey retailers and compile the sales.
Eventually, New Music Express ended up becoming the most widely-circulated and
most publicised chart source.
This changed on the 15th of February in 1969, where the BBC and Record Retailer
formed the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) and had it produce the first
chart. The BMRB compiled the first chart by surveying 250 record shops.
Fast forward to the 4th of January 1983. The charts are now compiled by Gallup with
financing courtesy of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Music Week (a trade
magazine), and the BBC. This date was also the first time a major market used
computerised data compiling methods (making Billboard’s use of SoundScan the
second time). This allowed for more accurate data.
Fast forward again to 1990, the BPI start to back out because they claim that they
can no longer afford the cost to compile these charts. In response, Spotlight
Publications (the publisher of Music Week) created the Chart Information Network
(CIN), which was created in cooperation with the BBC and the British Association of
Record Dealers (BARD). Later that year, the BPI joined in with the CIN. The CIN
would continue to carry on the chart as usual while still using Gallup to produce it.
Fast forward again to 1993, Millward Brown, a market research company, takes over
the production of the charts. Nothing much happens after this except for the fact that
the CIN changes its name to the Official UK Charts Company (OCC).

Another brief history on how the charts materialised in the digital

age
The OCC has a very long history of being stubborn towards anything and everything
digital. Before digital sales were deemed as equals to physical sales, they had to be
released in physical form in order to chart. After more industry pressure developed,
the OCC created a compromise wherein a song could chart on its downloads alone
the week before its physical release. As a part of this compromise, a single would be
removed from the charts two weeks after the deletion of its physical release from the
label’s catalogue. This caused songs such as Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” to drop off
the chart 11 weeks after hitting #5.
On the 1st of January 2007, digital sales were completely integrated in the charts.
There were no special rules against them, no compromises: they were counted one
on one with the physical singles.
The next major change in the charts came about seven years later, on the 29 th of
June 2014. Streaming figures from Deezer, Napster, O2 Tracks, Rara, Sony
Unlimited, Xbox Music (later Groove Music), and Spotify were incorporated into the
charts with the formula of 100 streams being one streaming-equivalent track (SET).
This conversion rate would go through some changes later on, but we’ll get into that
later.

Christ, that’s a lot of history. OK, so, what’s this ACR stuff? How
are streams weighed?
Oh. You want to talk about that.
Accelerated Chart Ratio (ACR) is the OCC’s response to streaming causing songs to
spend more time on the charts. But before we get into that, we should do a little
history.
From the chart week ending (from now on referred to as W/C) 29th of June 2014 to
W/C the 29th of December 2016, the SET ratio was 100:1. This changed for W/C the
5th of January 2017, where the SET ratio was changed to 150:1 to reflect the growth
of streaming.
It seemed like things were smooth sailing from here… until Stormzy and Ed Sheeran
happened. Especially Ed Sheeran.
Basically, when Ed Sheeran dropped his album Divide, it occupied 9/10 positions of
the top 10 that week. This caused a massive frenzy in the British music industry
where people left and right were declaring the charts dead thanks to streaming
allowing massive chart domination thanks to album releases. The OCC’s response
to this was two things:
 Artists could only have a maximum of three songs (that they’re the lead on)
chart at the same time.
 Accelerated chart ratio.
ACR declared that for any single that’s charted for at least nine weeks and has been
on an overall decline for three consecutive weeks will have its SET ratio changed
from 150:1 to 300:1. This caused songs to, quite easily, crash out the top 10. A song
could be placed back on standard chart ratio (SCR) should it experience an increase
50% greater than the market change week-on-week. It seemed like things were
smooth sailing from here…
… until W/C the 6th of July 2018.
The OCC then decided, after this whole time of only counting audio streams, that
they wanted to count video streams. This change also came with a Billboard-esque
streaming reweight. I’ll summarise it:
 Video streams from Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube will all count.
 And ONLY streams from official uploads, meaning user-generated clips do
not count at all.
While this change happened, these parallel changes came in:
 Streams will be weighed between free and paid.
 100 paid streams will be equal to one track, while 600 free streams will be
equal to one track.
ACR-wise:
 For ACR, 200 paid streams are equal to one track, while 1200 free streams
are equal to one track.
 Songs that are at least three years old and over are permanently placed on
ACR.