Broadcast Data Systems (also known as Nielsen BDS , BDS or Luminate BDS ) was a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data , is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned magazine Billboard , including the Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Hot 100 , when combined with sales and streaming data from Soundscan.
26-638: Latin Pop Airplay (also referred to as Latin Pop Songs ) is a record chart published on Billboard , an American music and entertainment magazine, and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established by the magazine on October 8, 1994 as a subchart of the Hot Latin Songs chart until October 2012 when
52-424: A climber, as if releases ahead of it decline in sales sufficiently, they may slip below it. By the same metric, not all week-to-week sales increases result in a climber, if other releases improve by a sufficient amount to keep it from climbing. The term highest climber is used to denote the release making the biggest leap upwards in the chart that week. There is generally not an equivalent phrase for tracks going down
78-471: A music/entertainment chart or the performance of a release thereon. A new entry is a title which is making its début in that chart. It is applied to all charts, for instance a track which is outside the Top 40 but which later climbs into that level of the chart is considered to be a 'new entry' to the Top 40 that week. In most official charts, tracks have to have been on sale for a period of time in order to enter
104-454: A runaway seller. Most charts that are used to determine extant mainstream popularity rely on measurable data. Record chart performance is inherently relative, as they rank songs, albums, and records in comparison to each other at the same time, as opposed to music recording sales certification methods, which are measured in absolute numbers. Comparing the chart positions of songs at different times thus does not provide an accurate comparison of
130-402: A song's overall impact. The nature of most charts, particularly weekly charts, also favors songs that sell very well for a brief period; thus, a song that is only briefly popular may chart higher than a song that sells more copies in the long range, but more slowly. As a result, a band's biggest hit single may not be its best-selling single. There are several commonly used terms when referring to
156-424: Is a materially different recording or is significantly repackaged (such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller 25"), where the release would normally be considered separate and thus a "new" entry. A climber is a release which is going higher in the chart week-on-week. Because chart positions are generally relative to each other on a week-to-week basis, a release does not necessarily have to increase sales week-to-week to be
182-449: The Hot 100). A "Top 40" is used by radio to shorten playlists. A re-entry is a track which has previously entered a chart and fallen off of that chart, and then later re-appears in it; it may come about if a release is reissued or if there is a re-surge of interest in the track. Generally, any repeat entry of a track into a chart is considered a re-entry, unless the later version of the track
208-464: The Hot Latin Songs changed its methodology. The first number-one song on the chart was Mañana by Cristian Castro . This chart features only singles or tracks and like most Billboard charts, is based on airplay ; the radio charts are compiled using information tracked by from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 140 markets across
234-805: The NME chart, including Melody Maker and Record Retailer . According to Joel Whitburn , the American trade publication Billboard introduced the Hot 100 on August 4, 1958. It was the first chart in the US to "fully integrate the hottest-selling and most-played pop singles." From 1958 until 1991, Billboard compiled the chart from playlists reported by radio stations, and surveys of retail sales outlets. Before 1958, several charts were published, including "Best Sellers in Stores", "Most Played by Jockeys" (later revived under
260-573: The United States. The audience charts cross-reference BDS data with listener information compiled by the Arbitron ratings system to determine the approximate number of audience impressions made for plays in each daypart. With the issue dated August 15, 2020, Billboard revamped the chart to reflect overall airplay of Latin pop music on Latin radio stations. Instead of ranking songs being played on Latin-pop stations, rankings will be determined by
286-426: The amount of streaming activity. Some charts are specific to a particular musical genre and most to a particular geographical location. The most common period covered by a chart is one week with the chart being printed or broadcast at the end of this time. Summary charts for years and decades are then calculated from their component weekly charts. Component charts have become an increasingly important way to measure
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#1732775587574312-440: The amount of airplay Latin-pop songs receive on stations that play Latin music regardless of genre. The current number-one song on the chart is " Soltera " by Shakira . In 2017, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 20 best-performing songs on the chart since its inception in 1994. The chart is based on the most weeks a song spent on top of the chart. For songs with the same number of weeks at number one, they are ranked by
338-641: The chart ever. If an act appears in some other form (for example, a solo act that appears with a band or with other act), then they are taken separately. Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems BDS monitors airplay on more than 2,000 radio stations, satellite radio, and cable music channels across the United States (including Puerto Rico), Canada, and Mexico. Luminate distributes BDS airplay data in their suite of music data products, including Music Connect, BDSRadio, BDS RealTime, ENcore and Musictracking. From August 2006 to its final June 2009 publication, BDS also provided chart data for R&R after Nielsen acquired
364-545: The chart had to be physically available as a single . A chart hit is a recording, identified by its inclusion in a chart that uses sales or other criteria to rank popular releases, that ranks highly in popularity compared to other songs in the same timeframe. Chart-topper and related terms (like number one , No. 1 hit , top of the charts , chart hit , and so forth) are widely used in common conversation and in marketing, and are loosely defined. Because of its value in promoting recording artists and releases, both directly to
390-515: The chart; however, in some retailers' charts, new releases are included in charts as 'new entries' without a sales history in order to make them more visible to purchasers. In the UK, the official published chart is a Top 100, although a new entry can take place between positions 101–200 (also true of the Billboard Hot 100, which has a " Bubbling Under " addendum for new songs that have not yet made
416-605: The chart; the term "faller" is occasionally used, but not as widely as 'climber'. A one-hit wonder is an act that appears on the chart just once, or has one song that peaks exceptionally higher, or charts for exceptionally longer than other chart entries by the act. The term true one-hit wonder was the term given by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums (and also the Billboard book Top Pop Singles ) for an act that has one top 40 hit and nothing else on
442-409: The commercial success of individual songs. A common format of radio and television programs is to run down a music chart. The first record chart was founded in 1952 by Percy Dickins, who was working at New Musical Express at the time. Dickins would telephone roughly twenty UK record stores and ask what their best-selling records were that week. Several similar charts followed after the success of
468-561: The company and develop the technology for tracking airplay data, which was originally developed to detect submarines by military contractors in Washington D.C. In 1986, BDS debuted their revolutionary audio recognition technology in front of the Recording Industry Association of America as a new method of monitoring radio airplay of songs and commercial advertising. Prior to the debut of their tracking system
494-413: The consumer, and by encouraging exposure on radio, TV, and other media, chart positioning has long been a subject of scrutiny and controversy. Chart compilation methodology and data sources vary, ranging from "buzz charts" (based on opinions of various experts and tastemakers ), to charts that reflect empirical data such as retail sales. Therefore, a chart-topper may be anything from an "insiders' pick" to
520-455: The first time since its spin-off to E5 Global Media from Nielsen Business Media. The purchase included Soundscan, BDS, and Music360. In October 2020, MRC and Penske Media combined their data businesses to form a joint venture, named P-MRC Data. The joint venture would combine MRC Data, Alpha Data, and Variety Business Intelligence. P-MRC Data rebranded as Luminate in March 2022. The service
546-426: The most weeks in the top ten, followed by most total weeks on the chart. Record chart A record chart , in the music industry , also called a music chart , is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include record sales , the amount of radio airplay , the number of downloads , and
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#1732775587574572-507: The music industry relied on self-reported playlists from radio stations. BDS airplay data was first used on a Billboard chart on January 20, 1990, when Billboard magazine published their newly revised Hot Country Singles chart. On November 30, 1991, Billboard published the first Billboard Hot 100 chart using airplay data from BDS. Since its debut, BDS has become the standard for the radio and music industry because of its accuracy of detecting, tracking and monitoring songs, thus eliminating
598-583: The name Hot 100 Airplay ), and "Most Played in Juke Boxes", and, in later collations of chart hits, the record's highest placing in any of those charts was usually reported. On November 30, 1991, Billboard introduced a new method of determining the Hot 100: "by a combination of actual radio airplay monitored electronically by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), additional playlists from small-market stations, and actual point-of-sale information provided by Nielsen SoundScan ." Until 1998, any songs placed on
624-544: The trade. On September 10, 2009, the website Radio-Info.com struck a partnership with Nielsen BDS to provide radio airplay charts and related data for over 20 formats. BDS was founded as Broadcast Recognition Systems by Robert Uhlmann and Hal Oppenheimer, in 1982. Uhlmann developed the idea for automating airplay recognition after his experience working in the music industry in Florida. After returning to Kansas City, Uhlmann partnered with financier Hal Oppenheimer to start
650-428: The use of reporting and call-outs to trades and record labels when it comes to adding and testing tracks. The method has also helped tracks that only received airplay (songs that are not released as singles) become major hits, especially in Billboard' s Hot 100 chart, where several radio-only tracks have reached the top spot. In 1994, SESAC became the first Performance Rights Organization to use data from BDS. BDS
676-558: Was acquired by Billboard parent company BPI Communications. In 1994, BPI Communications along with BDS were sold to Dutch media conglomerate Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen (VNU). After VNU was reorganized and renamed the Nielsen Company in 2007, BDS became known as Nielsen BDS. In December 2019, Valence Media , the parent company of Billboard , acquired Nielsen's music data business to establish its data division, MRC Data. The acquisition reunited BDS with Billboard for
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