Billboard to Alter Chart Tracking Week for Global Release Date

In response to the IFPI's global release date announcement, Billboard and Nielsen Music will adjust the tracking weeks for most Billboard charts. Concurrently, Billboard's rankings, including the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100, and associated analytical stories, will shift their posting dates on Billboard.com.

Starting July 10, the official street date for all new album releases will be Friday (instead of the current Tuesday) in the United States. For all sales-based charts (ranking both albums and tracks), Billboard and Nielsen will change the chart reporting period to cover the first seven days of an album's release. This will result in an adjusted sales period of Friday to Thursday, as opposed to the Monday to Sunday cycle that has been utilized since the advent of Nielsen Music's point-of-sales tracking in 1991.

Streaming services will now also be tracked from Friday to Thursday for the charts that incorporate that data.

(The final charts utilizing sales data from a Monday to Sunday cycle (June 29 through July 5) will post on Billboard.com on Thursday, July 9, and will be dated July 18. To account for sales in the in-between days during the transition week to a Friday to Thursday schedule, Nielsen Music will process data incorporating an 11-day cycle [Monday, June 29, through Thursday, July 9]. That 11-day period will inform the Billboard charts that will post on Billboard.com on Tuesday, July 14, and be dated July 25. The pure sales data from the 11-day stretch will be the only data stored historically when accounting for all-time sales according to Nielsen Music; thus, there will be no double-counting, per se, of sales in Nielsen Music's tracking system for this period in its archived database.)

Here's a more detailed look at what elements will shift, both for industry insiders and chart-watchers worldwide alike.

BILLBOARD 200 & ALL SALES, STREAMING CHARTS
All surveys ranking album sales, digital song sales and streams will run on a Friday to Thursday cycle. That covers the all-format Billboard 200 and Top Albums Sales album charts, genre-based album charts, Digital Songs and genre-based download charts and Streaming Songs and genre-focused streaming surveys.

BILLBOARD HOT 100 & GENRE HYBRID SONGS, AIRPLAY CHARTS
All radio charts, including the all-format Radio Songs chart and genre tallies, will run on a Monday to Sunday cycle. Notably, Radio Songs, which informs the Hot 100, will synch up to that Monday to Sunday period after formerly encompassing each Wednesday to Tuesday.

The Hot 100 and all other "Hot"-monikered genre songs charts (for country, R&B/Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, rock, dance, Latin, Christian and gospel) utilizing the Hot 100's sales/streaming/airplay hybrid formula will now incorporate the following tracking schedule for their components:

SALES: Friday to Thursday
STREAMS: Friday to Thursday
AIRPLAY: Monday to Sunday

Why is airplay on its own cycle apart from sales and streaming? Monitored radio data from Nielsen Music is readily available on a real-time basis, as opposed to sales and streaming data, which filters in from numerous data providers over multiple days. So, by incorporating the latest available airplay data, the Hot 100 will remain as up-to-date as possible each week.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND TIMING OF NEW WEEKLY CHARTS

What does all this mean for Billboard.com readers?

The shift in the sales tracking week related to the new global release date will result in adjustments to when our charts, and charts-based editorial content, will be finalized and presented on Billboard.com. All charts will be refreshed each Tuesday morning on Billboard.com starting July 14 (as opposed to the current Thursday). As has historically been the case, Billboard's charts are post-dated to the second Saturday following online posting (now 11 days later). So, charts that go live on Tuesday, July 14, will be dated July 25.

It really feels like 'See You Again' should have went like 1-1-1-1-2-4-8-15-26-x or something. I never expected such longevity for it considering how strongly it's tied into the story of Furious 7.

Was hoping bad blood would sneak another week at the top
Yay for rachel nearly top 10

I thought so too, but I guess the fact that it hit #1 meant it was universal enough to transcend its tie-in status. Maybe it's spent so long at #1 as it essentially has had two lives on top. By that I mean its first few weeks at #1 were driven by the film, and now it's getting a second wind as a pop radio hit.

I see this as a structural problem with the Hot 100 at the moment. Strictly sales or airplay charts likely see higher turnover at the top, but since the Hot 100 combines them, you see songs climb to the top 5 on big sales and then linger there for AGES (long after sales decline) on the strength of airplay, which can peak weeks or months after the sales peak.

EDIT: I should say there are certainly exceptions. Uptown Funk had gigantic sales for the entirety of its run. There's little use in arguing that song didn't deserve a very long run at #1.

SALES: Friday to Thursday
STREAMS: Friday to Thursday
AIRPLAY: Monday to Sunday

Why is airplay on its own cycle apart from sales and streaming? Monitored radio data from Nielsen Music is readily available on a real-time basis, as opposed to sales and streaming data, which filters in from numerous data providers over multiple days. So, by incorporating the latest available airplay data, the Hot 100 will remain as up-to-date as possible each week.