Heart of the Charts: Behind Mr. Nielsen's Curtain

Hey kids, it's magic!  

By the combined powers of Nielsen's audience response research, sales data, and streaming data, the good folks behind Mr. Nielsen's curtain give us the stuff that becomes the Billboard Hot 100, which will be the focus of our new segment, "Heart of the Charts."  

Now, if they wanted to, Mr. Nielsen and friends could in a scheme of epic proportions manipulate the data to make certain songs live or die.  But let's put aside conspiracy theories (and focus on real ones, like in Dan Brown novels) for now and trust the integrity of Nielsen's work, which applies to TV, as well.

Every New Year's Day (oh my God, the hair!!), Nielsen begins tracking the sales of new music.  From Wednesday to Tuesday, Nielsen tracks radio data.  They track sales from Sunday to Monday.  With the tracking complete, they compile the data and release to Billboard on Thursday; the chart is (confusingly) dated two Saturdays later.  But forget about that.  

In 1958, Ricky Nelson's "Poor LIttle Fool" was the first ever song to top the Billboard Hot 100.  As I write this post, it's "Thrift Shop," by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.  My, my - how things change.

So here's the deal, kids:

Every week, we'll take a look at the top of the charts and let you know our thoughts on the songs.  You tell us what you think about what we think.  We fight, we break up, we kiss, we make up.  (Thanks, Katy.)

Look for the first post straightaway!

Bye for now!