Billboard Revamps Hot 100

BILLBOARD REVAMPS HOT 100 CHART WITH ONLINE MUSIC DATA

Source: aol music/yahoo.news

New York, NY (August 3, 2007)—Billboard, the world’s most comprehensive

source of music, digital data and events, today announced an expansion of

its Hot 100 formula to include weekly streamed and on-demand music data

to the chart’s traditional mix of sales and radio airplay.

Keeping pace with the growth of digital delivery, Billboard’s franchise chart

will be supplemented by weekly data from AOL Music and Yahoo! Music,

two of the most prominent sources of online music.

Throughout the chart’s 49-year history, The Billboard Hot 100 has determined

the most popular songs by aggregating sales and radio data. Digital delivery

began playing an important role in the chart’s composition in February 2005,

when Billboard factored in the sale of digital tracks, as measured by Nielsen

SoundScan from a comprehensive panel of online merchants.

The chart also factors radio impressions from monitor service Nielsen

Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS) and retail single sales, tracked by Nielsen

SoundScan to reflect the 100 most popular songs. The retooled chart will add

weekly online music data provided by AOL® Music and Yahoo! Music,

ensuring that the chart represents emerging trends in music consumption.

Like digital sales, the on-demand data represents a more active voice for the

consumer. Billboard is eager to incorporate streaming data from other online

sources, including Rhapsody, and is working with Nielsen BDS for such

expansion.

Billboard associate director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo, who manages the

Hot 100, orchestrated the chart’s new formula.

“The introduction of digital sales to the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2005 was

exactly the jolt the chart needed at the time,” said Pietroluongo. “With

the addition of AOL Music and Yahoo! Music, Billboard continues to keep stride

with today’s digital trends while maintaining the chart’s traditional balance.”

In the new Billboard Hot 100 formula, radio audience will average about 55%

of the chart’s total points. Digital sales will account for about 40%, and

streaming media will determine 5%. Physical singles—in line with the music

industry’s retreat from that product over the past decade—will account for less

than 1% of the chart’s new formula.

As part of the chart’s revision, Billboard’s Hot 100 chart’s radio panel

will expand to include all current-based commercial U.S. stations that Nielsen

BDS monitors, regardless of whether those stations qualify for a Billboard or

Radio & Records format panel. For example, stations removed from Hot Country

Songs’ consideration when that chart’s criteria was revised last fall will

now have a voice on the Hot 100. This increases the Hot 100’s station count by

nearly 250 stations.