For the last sixty years or so, the Billboard Hot 100 has been the main and, to an extent, only way to measure music’s popularity. Getting the number one song on that chart has been a major accomplishment in the eyes of many, not just in the industry, but as celebrities around the world. But Billboard has been struggling to keep up with the times, and this year especially has shown that some cracks have formed in the ivory tower that Billboard’s set themselves up in.
This year set the record for most number one debuts in chart history. At first glance, one might think that this to be great for the charts. Records have been broken, emphasizing the Billboard’s relevance, right? This record actually makes them less interesting and more dated than any previous issue, because the majority of these number one songs have crashed and burned after their initial release.
Why does this happen? In short, all of the number ones follow a similar format, high streaming debut + major physical sale push = high chart debut. The problem lies in the fact that most physical sales drop off after the first week because, well, you don’t really want to buy the same song twice. BTS fans managed to keep the sales strong this year due to another controversial process, which boils down to just releasing five remixes and hoping it matches the initial sales push, but I’d argue that this hurts the charts even more.
The death of radio also provides a conundrum that the Billboard charts have not yet tackled: their points system. Billboard notes that radio plays weigh second most in their system when it comes to points, with physical sales coming first. But fewer people listen to the radio, and the people don’t even control the radio. The labels control the radio, in a process known as “payola”. Payola involves record labels throwing money at radio stations to artificially inflate their song’s radio play, and therefore, their chart placement. It would be like if the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie grossed the most money for any movie of all time because they have the highest marketing budget.
Because of these outdated principles, the much-loved Billboard Hot 100 may, it seems, be on its way out—unless, of course, you still listen to the radio.
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