Prompted by a thread started by bibliophage (I’d provide the link, but I’m too lazy to figure out how to do it just now), I have always wondered about just what it means to say a hit is number one or in the top forty, etc. When I was a kid, it made sense, because we actually went to the music store and bought the 45. I assume the sales were then tallied up and the rankings–however bogus (payola scandal) or manipulated they were–at least in theory could be linked to those actual sales. Then the rock/FM album “revolution” occurred and then continued with the CD “revolution,” And I guess we’d have to factor in the MTV “revolution,” too. With these developments, how is a single, which is relatively rarely purchased, determined to be number one or two, or in the top 40.
The effort I’ve taken to write this question is way out of proportion to my desire to know the answer, but I am, I guess, sort of curious as to what any doper’s angle on this might be.
I’m pretty sure that radio and MTV airplay have alot to do with charts today. That’s the only way I can think of that any sort of count could be made.
Or they count mp3 downloads. 
Radio airplay is a factor, but I don’t think MTV airplay counts.
Thanks, dogchow and Lamia, for replies. Gee, we aren’t very well along in getting a good answer now are we?
They use radio play and single sales (people still buy them, just not at the volume it used to be at. As I recall, there are still a few gold singles each year.)
I actually logged on to ask this very question. Great minds and all that I suppose…
I was reading in Martina McBride’s greatest hits album that if one of her songs (I can’t remember which) had been played 3 more times anywhere in the US, it would have been #1. Obviously this means that they are chosen by airplay. However, aren’t all rotations selected by the program manager? Most stations that I know of only honour “requests” when the song happens to be coming up anyway.
I like to think that I am one of the top 40 singles around these days…but that’s not been officially determined yet either.
All right, Spit! One question–how do those airplays get counted? And how accurate can anyone expect that to be? (I guess that’s two questions)
Hey MaxC, as long as you get that airplay…and with that moniker, you get my vote!
I was looking at Radio & Records website last night, trying to see if they had any info, and it turns out that the songs are counted by a company called
Mediabase .
However, this still doesn’t answer the question of who decides what songs get played in the first place.