U2's history on the BB Pop 100

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04072511

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Could anyone tell me what is the difference between the Hot 100 and The Pop 100? How long has the Pop 100 been in existance for? Could anyone tell me U2's chart run for all their singles that have charted on the Pop 100? Thanks.
 
04072511 said:
Could anyone tell me what is the difference between the Hot 100 and The Pop 100? How long has the Pop 100 been in existance for? Could anyone tell me U2's chart run for all their singles that have charted on the Pop 100? Thanks.

The Billboard HOT 100 is the cumulative total of all radio plays for the prior week, on each format, as well as all the cumulative sales for that song. It is the ultimate measure of how a song is doing on ALL Radio formats (# of plays) and in the shops (downloads and CD sales, if available). I do not know how sales are averaged with radio play to come up with a chart position. I've been told that sales are 10-20% of the equation, but there was also a song recently that rose from 85 to 45 "on the strength of xx,xxx downloads, while it had a decrease in radio play". Just don't know the answer.

Now, in U.S. radio, there are multiple formats. Pop/Mainstream hits is one of them. Modern Rock is another, then you have Country, R&B, Gospel, etc. It's basically all the different singles charts found on Billboard. Pop is by far the largest radio format in the U.S. While Modern Rock/Alt, Mainstream Rock, and other formats have shrunk in the last 10-15 years (i.e., number of radio stations playing those formats), Hip Hop/R&B and "Pop" radio have grown much larger in the same time frame (i.e., lots more radio stations have switched to that format).

So, let's say Vertigo is #1 on Modern Rock, Adult Top 40, and Mainstream Rock. That MIGHT total up to 5000 radio plays. Now, at the same time, let's say that Mariah Carey is #20 on the "Pop 100" and the R&B formats, both of which are MUCH larger than all three of the rock formats combined. At the same time, Mariah Carey has a multi song CD single for this song, priced at $.39/ea (this has happened before!) for sale after the song has 3-4 weeks to get onto the radio. Then you have, in the sales debut week, a powerful combination of, say, 20,000 in CD sales and 15,000 radio plays. I'm making all these numbers up just to show that Mariah Carey could easily end up with a NUMBER 1 HIT on the BB Hot 100, as all formats are not equal and no single sales = LOST CHART POSITIONS. Ironically, U2, or the Edge actually, defended their decision to stop releasing CD singles in the U.S. because "the singles market has declined to almost nothing...and you don't make money...it's really just a vanity thing." This happend in 2001 I think...I might be able to dig up the quote.

However, I think that's total B.S. U2 does this exact same thing in the UK, Canada, and just about every country where they are popular enough to sell enough singles to have a "Number 1" hit. They don't do it in the U.S. anymore because they would lose money and there would not be enough CD single purchases to get them to #1 anyway. I think this general problem is a big reason U2 did the I-pod promo for the Vertigo single. With downloads, you don't have to make as many CD singles...in fact, maybe none 5 years from now. However, you don't lose money by making your song(s) available for download...and if the industry would count downloads just as single sales (which is now the case), then they could chart higher in the U.S., and still hit #1 in the countries where 1500 singles downloads/sales will give you that "all important spin factor" of having a song that "went straight to number 1".

The BB Pop 100 includes downloads, CD sales (even if it's just 300 imports), AND airplay. Therefore, you have a chart that is broken out into 2 formats, as there is a 2nd chart called the "Pop 100 Airplay Only" chart. In the legend for the Pop 100 chart, it clearly states that all data from the Pop 100 chart is used to help determine the Hot 100 chart. Now, all the other formats say "The airplay on this chart (say, Modern Rock) is used to help calculate the BB Hot 100. Every singles chart on BB, except for the BB Pop 100 and Hot 100, is for AIRPLAY ONLY.

As for how long the chart has been around...I don't know. Before I subscribed to BB online, I never could check the chart, or at least I could only see the Top 20 or so. Now I can see the Top 100. Also, Vertigo did peak at #10 on the Pop 100 chart...w/o the benefit of many sales...and it also hit #33 on the Hot 100 that same week. If I remember correctly, it might have already peaked on some other formats. Still, if Vertigo was the most downloaded song of 2004, the ultimate peak chart position on the Hot 100 might have been 12-15, and it could easily have hit the Top 5 on the Pop 100.

Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how sales data and radio play data is used, or averaged, or even voted on, to determine a song's position on the BB Hot 100 or the Pop 100. The other BB formats end up matching radio play monitoring services very closely each week in terms of chart position.
 
The Pop 100 just came out a few months ago, I think..............and of note, had downloads been counting on Billboard back in the fall (or at least playing a larger part), "Vertigo" would've easily been a Top Ten hit on The Billboard 100......
 
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