What does it take to land a song on a Billboard chart? Billboard’s managing director of charts & data operations, Keith Caulfield, joins host Kristin Robinson to unpack the evolution of the Billboard charts. From the origins of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 to the modern formula of blending radio, sales and streams, Caulfield breaks down how his team evolves alongside the industry. Caulfield digs into why catalog albums keep finding new life, how Billboard determines an artists’ genre and how artists like Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Drake achieve so many No. 1s. From artists releasing multiple vinyl variants to the comeback of CDs and cassettes, Caulfield explains how today’s musicians are using every format, and every fan connection, to make chart history.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:19 How Do Billboard Charts Work?
00:03:24 Kristen Introduces Keith Caulfield
00:08:08 The Origins of Billboard Charts
00:12:30 Evolution of Billboard Chart Metrics
00:20:12 Streaming’s Impact on Chart Calculations
00:30:32 Charting Genres and Listener Algorithims
00:38:15 Fandom’s Role in Billboard Charts
00:49:25 Long Albums and Deluxe Editions
01:00:27 Rapid Fire Chart Records
01:03:31 Outro and Final Thoughts
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About: Billboard is the world’s most influential music media brand, with an unmatched authority among artists, fans and the industry. Billboard powers the ultimate global music destination and magazine, featuring unrivaled reporting on music news, issues and trends, the industry’s definitive charts, encompassing the most complete and well respected database of charts across all music genres, and elite conferences and events which regularly convene the industry and consumers around important conversations.
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The Evolution Of the Billboard Charts: Hot 100, Catalog Albums & Streaming w/ Keith Caulfield | On the Record
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If user-generated content doesn’t count toward the Hot 100 how did Harlem Shake hit #1 in 2013 or has the formula changed again since that?
I was surprised chart stagnation was brought up, but no mention of the new recurrency rules. 😐
i have no idea who morgan wallen (sp?) is
Does he rub anyone else the wrong way or is it just me? He just interrupted and unnecessarily corrected her a lot from the start and this was just a bit hard to watch because of that. I felt bad for her 🙁
I started hearing the name “Morgan Wallen” a few months ago (or a year ago?), and knew he was a singer but, so far as I know, I have not yet heard one of his songs. My algorithm doesn’t give me much current country. The same goes for K-pop. I don’t know the song you were referring to (Golden?).
Great information. Additional questions……. Where does Billboard get its data from and how is it weighted? For example – are physical sales weighted over streams? How many streams equal a physical sale or vice versa?
They need to change some rules. And it’s not only rules to take some songs out for longevity. They need to change the weight of the number of tracks of one album in the same week (mostly played only by the same niche). Not the same way as the UK charts (too extreme) but (maybe) giving some point restrictions since the 4th or 5th track most played. The charts need to be oxygenated with more air feeding the same niches.