The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014[1] and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991)[2] is released weekly by Billboard magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States across all musical genres. It is one of the three components, along with sales (both physical and the digital) and streaming activity, that determine the chart positions of songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Radio airplay has always been one of the component charts of the Hot 100. Prior to the establishment of the Hot 100, Billboard published a radio airplay chart, a singles sales chart and a jukebox play chart, the last of which was discontinued in 1959 as jukeboxes lost their popularity. During the 1960s and 1970s, Billboard continued to collect airplay data as a component of the Hot 100 but did not make the chart public.[3]
The airplay-only chart debuted as a 30-position chart on October 20, 1984, and was expanded to 40 positions on May 31, 1986.[4] Rankings were based on playlists received by a panel of Top 40 radio stations. On December 8, 1990, Billboard introduced the 75-position Top 40 Radio Monitor chart positions, which ranked songs measured by the number of spins each song on monitored radio stations and the ratings for those stations when the songs were being played based on Nielsen BDS technology.[5] The BDS-measured Top 40 Radio Monitor chart became the official airplay-component of the Hot 100 on November 30, 1991.[6]
Each week, the Radio Songs chart ranks the top 100 songs by most airplay points (frequently referred to as audience impressions, which is a calculation of the number of times a song is played and the audience size of the station playing the tune). A song can pick up an airplay point every time it is selected to be played on specific radio stations that Billboard monitors. Radio stations across the board are used, from Top 40 Mainstream (which plays a wide variety of music that is generally the most popular songs of the time) to more genre-specific radio stations such as urban radio and country music. Paid plays of a song or treatment as bumper music do not count as an impression.
During the early years of the chart, only airplay data from top 40 radio stations were compiled to generate the chart. Effective from issue dated July 17, 1993, adult contemporary stations were added to the panel, followed by modern rock few months later. However, beginning in December 1998, the chart profile expanded to include airplay data from radio stations of other formats such as R&B, rock and country. To preserve the notion of the former chart, the Top 40 Tracks chart (now defunct) was introduced at the same time.
The radio airplay data was previously collected on a Wednesday to Tuesday weekly cycle prior to July 2015, and on a Monday to Sunday weekly cycle from July 2015 to July 2021.[7]As of the chart dated July 17, 2021, the radio airplay data is collected on a Friday through Thursday weekly cycle, which matches that of the other Hot 100 metrics (streaming and sales).[8]
On November 30, 1991, after 21 years of using the Billboard Hot 100 as their source, American Top 40 started using this chart, which at the time was called the Top 40 Radio Monitor. This relationship ended in January 1993, as American Top 40 switched to the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart. The ongoing splintering of Top 40 radio in the early 1990s led stations to lean into specific formats, meaning that practically no station would play the wide array of genres that typically composed each weekly Hot 100 chart.
Yet would any fan of the Stones, who recorded more than 400 songs, include "Start Me Up" on their top-10 list? Listeners can catch "Satisfaction," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Brown Sugar" five days a week, while "The Spider and the Fly" and "Hand of Fate" go unheard. Two years into the pandemic, why hasn't some DJ resurrected the 1972 release "Ventilator Blues"? Too soon?
The playlists aren't much more diverse at Vermont's adult-alternative stations, where the choice of Eurythmics songs seems to be between "Sweet Dreams" and "Would I Lie to You?" Whenever a local DJ teases a Tracy Chapman song, you can bet your favorite vinyl it'll be "Fast Car" or "Give Me One Reason." Not to disparage the four-time Grammy winner, but you can't give me one reason not to turn the dial when those songs come on.
In a January 6 blog post titled "Why Radio Just Shot Itself in the Foot," Fred Jacobs, president of the consulting firm Jacobs Media Strategies, wrote about how SiriusXM satellite radio became one of the nation's largest advertisers on AM/FM stations, effectively stealing their audience out from under them. "Terrestrial radio is still the 800-pound gorilla in the room," Jacobs wrote, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all audio consumption, but it's been steadily losing market share to newer technologies.
For insight into the local broadcasting biz, we talked with Mike Luoma, a 40-year veteran of Vermont radio who got his start at WWPV the Mike, the student-run station at Saint Michael's College. Since 1987, he's held various commercial radio jobs, including that of music and program director at WIZN, Champlain Valley's classic rock station. From 2006 to 2018, Luoma worked at WNCS the Point Independent Radio. Since then, he's hosted on WBKM, a Burlington-based internet station.
Luoma explained that it all boils down to risk aversion. For-profit radio stations must keep listeners tuned in through the ads, which pay the bills. So the music they choose is "safe, familiar and well tested."
Back in the '90s, Luoma said, WIZN did a lot of music research. In those days, the top-performing song with listeners was always "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas. If you listen to WIZN today, he said, you can probably figure out which songs made the current list. (I'm looking at you, "Layla," "Lola" and "Kashmir.")
"The argument used to be that radio provided promotion for [new] artists, and in the case of WNCS, that is still true," Luoma said. "But in a larger sense, catalog music is a balm being used by commercial radio stations to soothe you through commercials.
"I wouldn't agree that the Buzz is risk averse," he added. "We play more new music and emerging artists than most commercial alternative radio stations across the country, and we have several other outlets for new music discovery, including five hours a night on our [syndicated] evening show, 'Alternative Soundcheck.'"
Here's where you'll find songs from the show currently on-air. If you need to go back further, click here for our archive of playlists from shows from our programming schedule that have aired previously.
For several years, the voice at the heart of it all was Terry Berry, the original Walmart Radio legend. (Fun fact: This smooth talker remains at Walmart as a Facilitator at Walmart Academy but returned to the radio studio for a few encore shows in 2021, pictured below with DJ Bo and former DJ Antonio.)
After in-store radio programming took a six-year pause, it relaunched in 2016 in response to associate feedback. And it returned with a unique twist: We invited store associates to audition to become the new DJ! Submissions were so good that not one, but two associates won a spot behind the mic!
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ASCAP licenses the public performances of its members' musical works. A public performance is one that occurs either in a public place where people gather (other than a small circle of a family or social acquaintances). A public performance is also one that is transmitted to the public, for example, radio or TV broadcasts, and via the Internet.
ASCAP does not license "dramatic" or "grand" rights, or dramatic performances. ASCAP members who write musical plays, operas, or ballet scores deal directly with those who want to perform our members' works "dramatically." While ASCAP does not license "dramatic" or "grand" rights, or dramatic performances of its members' music, an ASCAP license does authorize nondramatic performances of songs from dramatic productions. For more information on "dramatic" or "grand" rights and the distinction between dramatic and nondramatic performances, click here.
The JLO is a joint venture of the United States performing rights organizations, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The JLO offers a license which provides total access to all songs in the ASCAP, BMI and SESAC repertories. The Jukebox License Agreement is a single, economical, annual license that provides the authorization required to publicly perform copyrighted songs on a jukebox. Jukeboxes that are licensed by the JLO, must display a certificate in the title strip holder of each jukebox. If you see a jukebox without a certificate, please complete and return the Tips card or email the name and address of the location and name of jukebox operator (if known) to licensing...@jukeboxlicense.org.
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