Billboard publishes first music chart - TIMH

We are all familiar with terms like Top 40, album chart and singles chart and we know they exist to serve the music industry. Unlike football polls, these charts are not arbitrary. Depending on the chart, they generally track album or song sales and radio play. The first national popular music chart based on sales was published today
in 1936 by The Billboard magazine.

Billboard started life in 1884 as an advertising trade journal out of Cincinnati called Billboard Advertising. Have you seen an old movie that shows a building with a sign tacked up on an exterior wall that reads, “Post No Bills”? They weren’t worried about the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company shaming them over an unpaid heating bill. Back then “bill” was another name for sign or advertisement and in those days before radio and television, posting bills around town was one of the most effective forms of advertising.

Since there’s only so much news a paperhanger needs, Billboard Advertising changed its name to The Billboard and soon began expanding their coverage to include vaudeville, circuses, and burlesque shows. Rapid changes in technology were occurring with the invention of the jukebox in 1889 and the radio in 1895. Like any good business, The Billboard adapted with the times and began reporting on music.

The first album chart was published today in 1939. The company operated in Ohio until they moved to New York City in 1948 and they now offer over 50 different charts, including the Hot 100, which tracks the sales of singles, and the Billboard 200, which track album sales. In keeping with the company’s willingness to adapt to the times, there are over 10 charts which track digital sales and song streaming. In 1960, however, carnies and circuses were still being reported on side by side with Elvis. The company spun off a new magazine devoted to music called Billboard Music Week and now it’s just called Billboard.

The legacy of the Billboard chart, which comes from a magazine that hardly anyone ever reads, is extensive and has seeped into popular culture in many ways. The term “number one with a bullet” comes from the practice of putting a circle (bullet) around the number signifying chart position when the song or album is increasing in sales. The bullet showed momentum upward in the chart, so a number one with a bullet was still climbing but had nowhere else to go on the chart. The Top 40 chart spawned Kasey Kasem’s coast-to-coast American Top 40 radio show in 1970, which carries on to this day, while also influencing what bands would be on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand from 1952-1989.

The two main charts are the Billboard 200 album chart and the Hot 100 singles chart. The chart is a barometer of what is popular, not necessarily what is good. The Beatles hold the record for most #1 singles with 20 but Mariah Carey is hot on their heels with 18. Michael Jackson and Rihanna have 13, the Supremes and Madonna each have 12, Whitney Houston is next with 11, while Stevie Wonder and Janet Jackson have 10. Half of those artists will still be listened to in 100 years while the others will be trivia answers.

With that in mind, here are some of the worst songs ever to reach #1 on the singles chart. The date the song appeared at #1 is in parentheses:

Crazy Town – Butterfly (March 24, 2001):