Chart Beat - Sales Chart Articles - Airplay Chart Column

A TALE OF ONE CITY?

Last week the various artists album "Cities 97 Sampler: Live From Studio C: 20th Anniversary" debuted at No. 21 on The Billboard 200.
 
To my understanding this was released to one chain in one city only.
 
I am aware that starting the week that the last Eagles album was released, The Billboard 200 album chart has included CDs sold in only one chain - but how something released in only one city can be eligible bewilders me. Furthermore, how could something sold in only one city outsell so many other CDs released nationwide?
 
Your input and enlightenment is much appreciated.
 
Mike Rosenthal
Staten Island, NY


Dear Mike,

I think most Chart Beat readers are aware that while albums exclusively sold at one retail outlet were not eligible for the charts at one time, that rule changed as more and more albums were available through one retailer only, as long as those sellers agree to report sales. But I bet most readers were not aware that being sold in only one city makes an album ineligible to chart.

It isn't exactly defined by cities, but by geographic areas. Given this exclusionary rule, I asked Keith Caulfield, chart manager for The Billboard 200, about the issue you raised. Here's what he had to say:
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"Effective with the Nov. 24, 2007 issue of Billboard, albums sold exclusively through one retailer are eligible to appear on Billboard's charts, providing that a) sales come from more than one Designated Marketing Area and b) the album is available as a physical product (prerecorded media or download
card).

"A 'Designated Marketing Area' defines the geographic parameters of a market.

"The 'Cities 97' album had sales in four different DMAs, therefore it was eligible to chart, though, the majority of the sales came from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. DMA."


IN CASE YOU WANT TO BUY JAMES AND ME SOMETHING NICE

Fred,

I've loved your column since I discovered it a couple of years ago. I have a question: how does one determine the date (not week) that a song hit No. 1

I understand that a new chart appears every week, but so often, we hear of a song being No. 1 on on a given date. In fact, I believe it was in your column that I found a link to a site which allows you to look up the No. 1 song on any given date.

The problem is, the site shows slightly different information, by one day, regarding my birthdate, than what I had read in the past. In my particular case, my birthdate of Jan. 10, 1965 supposedly ties my birth to "Come See About Me" by the Supremes, whereas if I had been born one day earlier, it would be "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles. However, I have researched this before, and each time, the source indicated that "I Feel Fine" was the correct song for that date. So how does one determine on which date one chart ends and the next one begins?

Thanks,

James Williams
Arlington, Texas


Dear James,

Before I get to your question, I wonder if you know what a musical birthday you have? You share your birthdate with Rod Stewart, Pat Benatar, Jim Croce, Frank Sinatra Jr., Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, Chris "Daddy Mack" Smith of Kris Kross, Shawn Colvin and... me.

And Jan. 10, 1949 is the day RCA introduced the 45 rpm recording format, which was still popular the day you were born and "Come See About Me" by the Supremes was No. 1 on the Hot 100.

"I Feel Fine" was No. 1 on the chart for the week ending Jan. 9, 1965, and "Come See About Me" reclaimed pole position on the Hot 100 for the week ending Jan. 16, which means that on Jan. 10, 1965, "Come See About Me" was No. 1.

The charts are dated with the week ending date, which is also the issue date of the print edition of Billboard. This works for all charts dated from Jan. 13, 1962, forward. Prior to that time, chart dates and issue dates differed. There was a time when the charts were dated with the Monday of the week ending on Saturday. Now the issue and chart dates are both Saturdays.

Hope you have a happy 44th birthday and I'll have a happy... whatever.


WORKING FOR A LIVING

Hi Fred.

I have to say that I am a huge fan and really enjoy reading Chart Beat and Chart Beat Chat every week. I have always found the current charts, history of the charts and even the future of the charts so very interesting.

I must say you really do have the dream job.

So, my question is, how did you get this "dream" job There's nothing I would love to do more than somehow make my fascination and passion for all things charts into a career (I am currently an HR ?Generalist at Revlon in New York and have been in Human Resources for more than 12 years now).

Any advice on getting into your field of work?

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

David SchecterLong Island City, N.Y.


Dear David,

This is a question I get asked maybe once a year or so but I don't think I have ever responded to this query in my column before. So for you and the other people who have asked, let's see if I can make a long story short.

Long time Chart Beat Chat readers know that I became fascinated with the charts when I was 14. Like many of the chart fans who write to me, I started keeping my own personal charts back then and continued to do so for about 16 years. I started reading Billboard magazine as a teenager but never dreamed that I would one day work for Billboard or that what I would one day do for a living would be connected to my interest In the charts.

I always knew I wanted to write, and I majored in journalism in college. Right after graduating, I was hired to be a publicist at NBC-TV in Burbank. I was there for 12 years and loved my job, but I wanted to write more than press releases. So I left and moved to London to take a sort of "gap year," manly because I fell in love with London and wanted the experience of living there. After 15 months, I returned home and made a decision not to seek out publicity work full time but to commit to making a living from my writing.

On the flight home, I filled a notebook with ideas for a book I wanted to write that I thought Billboard might want to publish. I didn't know anyone at Billboard Books to pitch the idea to and before I could do anything about it, I received a phone call from an editor at Billboard Books who wanted to know if I would be interested in writing "The Billboard Book of Number One Hits." That was not the idea I came up with on the plane, but nevertheless, I thought it was pretty amazing that someone from Billboard Books would be calling me to write a book right after I had an idea to write a book for them.

Turns out a friend who worked for Billboard gave them knew they wanted to do a "Number One Hits" book and suggested me as the author. The first edition was published in 1985 with a second edition in 1988 and a third edition in 1992. (And by the way, the idea I developed on the flight home from London became my second book, "Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits").

In November 1992 I received a phone call from the managing editor of Billboard magazine. He told me that Paul Grein, who came up with the idea for Chart Beat and had written it weekly since March 1991, was moving on and would I be interested in taking over the column.

And that's how I got this job.

As you can tell, none of it happened by conscious plan. It all sort of fell into place. One aspect that I haven't really discussed before and didn't even remember until I started writing this reply was that just before I got the call to write Chart Beat, I had been discussing with a former Billboard staff writer the idea of writing a weekly syndicated column about the charts that we could sell to newspapers. We wrote several weeks' worth of sample columns and we called it – no kidding – Chart Chat. When I accepted the job of writing Chart Beat, I had to call my friend and break the news to him, as it meant I couldn't go forward with the idea for Chart Chat.

I realize there is nothing in my story that you could take and follow as a plan for having a similar career, since so many things just fell out of the sky. It may sound too ethereal, but I do believe that if you commit to what you really want, things will fall into place.

Having said that, there are not a lot of jobs like mine out there. Alan Jones writes similar columns for the U.K. trade paper Music Week and there are a handful of people around the world who write about the charts, like Nanda Lwin in Canada, Johan van Slooten in the Netherlands and Jochen Tierbach in Germany. So the career opportunities are slim.

There's always the Billboard chart department, but that is a small coterie of folks who like their jobs and so the vacancies are rare. So while I encourage you to follow your heart and find a career that you are passionate about, it's difficult to suggest a way to turn your passion for the charts into an occupation. But that doesn't mean it's impossible.