Billboard allow old songs to re-chart (Included Xmas songs)

by **leoapp** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:09 am

Whitney Houston Returns to Hot 100's Top 10

http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/whi ... 3562.story

Whitney Houston returns to the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 this week as her signature hit from 1992 -- it reigned for 14 weeks -- "I Will Always Love You" re-enters at No. 7, fueled by an enormous resurgence in digital sales (195,000, up 6723%, according to Nielsen SoundScan) and radio airplay (18 million audience impressions, up 915%, according to Nielsen BDS).

Houston places two other former No. 1s on the chart: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (from 1987) at No. 35 and "Greatest Love of All" (1986) at No. 41.

While historically, catalog or recurrent songs have not been eligible for inclusion on the Hot 100, this is not the first time Billboard has charted such activity. As recently as 2001, following the attacks of Sept. 11, the Hot 100 welcomed Lee Greenwood's 1984 country hit "God Bless the USA" and Houston's spine-tingling rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," the latter of which had reached the chart's top 20 a decade earlier. At the time, the inclusion of these songs properly captured the musical mood as the nation reacted to that tragic day.

"As the digital age has progressed," says Billboard director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo, "with the immediacy it provides, the line has blurred between the relevancy of new and older recordings, which are for the most part equally accessible from one's home computer."

"Going forward we feel that it is the proper move to allow older titles posting enough activity to return to the Hot 100 if ranking in the chart's upper half." (Billboard's policy of removing descending songs from the Hot 100 after 20 weeks if ranking below No. 50 remains unchanged).

Adding new policy!

Mariah Carey's 1994 classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You" tops the inaugural chart this season. (The carol led the list for four of the five weeks in which the tally was tabulated a year ago.) "Christmas" logged 20 million in radio audience in the current chart's tracking week, ranking at No. 6 on the Holiday Airplay ranking. It rules the Holiday Digital Songs chart with 27,000 downloads sold (up 112%).

While the overall chart points for "Christmas" leave it shy of the Hot 100's top 50 this week, should the song accrue enough points in upcoming weeks to rank in the Hot 100's upper half, it, or any holiday title regardless of age that reaches such a points level, would be eligible to rank on the Hot 100. Hot 100 rules were adjusted at the beginning of the 2012 chart year to include all titles regardless of age should they rank in the top 50; tracks by Whitney Houston benefitted from the adjustment following her February passing, with, most noticeably, her 1992-93 Hot 100 No. 1 "I Will Always Love You" returning and soaring to No. 3 in March.

http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbe ... 1682.story

by **JSparksFan** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:13 am

I'm shocked that they changed the rule but it makes complete sense that they did. Charts serve as a representation of how popular a song is at a point in time and old songs should be eligible to re-chart at any time that they're popular again. Never really understood the rule, anyway. :-?

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:18 am

Did Madonna Like a Prayer re.enter the charts? Because If Whitney is aloud, so should Madonna. Or is Clive Davis putting some money out for this to happen?

by **Wayne** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:19 am

In two minds - I think that its important for charts to remain current. And reflect current taste, and not artificial interest - such as after a famous death.

However, I take great joy in knowing that some great songs will now gain new peaks on the hot 100, or just re-enter.

I wonder why Billboard changed the rule. Probably a lot to do with Whitney's death.

by **Timmy94** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:22 am

I don't think it has to do with Whitney Houston's death. They also didn't change it after MJ's and Amy Winehouse's...

Does this also mean the same for the Canadian Hot 100?

by **Poop123** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:23 am

Billboard is so shady!!

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:24 am

I guess Madonna would be eligible to chart wouldn't she? :-?

Like a Prayer is #38 in Hot Digital sales, that's enough for her to chart :roll:

I want to read their explanation for all this sudden change :roll:

I bet it'll be some kind of BS anyway...

by **JustBorn** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:25 am

So MJ fans better start buying Smooth Criminal, so we can get the 6th No 1 from the Bad album.

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:26 am

JustBorn wrote:So MJ fans better start buying Smooth Criminal, so we can get the 6th No 1 from the Bad album.

+ 1 let's start a campaign :lol:

Website · by **crazy4bk** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:27 am

JustBorn wrote:So MJ fans better start buying Smooth Criminal, so we can get the 6th No 1 from the Bad album.

Katy who?

by **leoapp** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:29 am

Mikerocha wrote:Did Madonna Like a Prayer re.enter the charts? Because If Whitney is aloud, so should Madonna. Or is Clive Davis putting some money out for this to happen?

"How Will I Know" enters Hot Digital Songs at No. 46 Digital Songs, but makes no mention of it re-entering the Hot 100.
Probably old songs are allowed to re-chart only with certain amount of airplay?

Website · by **crazy4bk** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:30 am

um.... has Billboard officially released a statement regarding the re-entry?

by **Timmy94** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:31 am

Or propably the 20-weeks-rule still counts...
So songs can only chart after the 20th week if they sell enough/have enough airplay to be inside the top 50!

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:35 am

Isn't Billboard based on points of sales and airplay? If that's the main rule, and if they now let old songs chart it should chart. It sounds like a weird rule that it has to have airplay

when a new album is released, a lot of songs from that album charts with no airplay. So if airplay is the key, those songs shouldn't chart. They're album tracks available for unit download on iTunes. They're not singles, no airplay. So it shouldn't chart.

Sory I'm flipping out :lol:

I apologize. I just had enough with Billboard. They choose the artists they want to help. that's it.

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:35 am

Timmy94 wrote:Or propably the 20-weeks-rule still counts...
So songs can only chart after the 20th week if they sell enough/have enough airplay to be inside the top 50!

Like a Prayer only charted for a total of 16 weeks. So it would be aloud back in the Top 100 anyway.

by **leoapp** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:37 am

I forgot, they still have different rule for Xmas songs, All I Want For Xmas Is You gets big sales and airplay in every Xmas season, they must allow it to re-chart as well!

by **Mikerocha** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:38 am

leoapp wrote:I forgot, they still have different rule for Xmas songs, All I Want For Xmas Is You gets big sales and airplay in every Xmas season, they must allow it to re-chart as well!

Agreed. I never thought it was fair for All I want never charting. It sells a lot of downloads every holiday season. If they change the rules, then change it all.

by **Wayne** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:52 am

While historically, catalog or recurrent songs have not been eligible for inclusion on the Hot 100, this is not the first time Billboard has charted such activity. As recently as 2001, following the attacks of Sept. 11, the Hot 100 welcomed Lee Greenwood's 1984 country hit "God Bless the USA" and Houston's spine-tingling rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," the latter of which had reached the chart's top 20 a decade earlier. At the time, the inclusion of these songs properly captured the musical mood as the nation reacted to that tragic day.

"As the digital age has progressed," says Billboard director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo, "with the immediacy it provides, the line has blurred between the relevancy of new and older recordings, which are for the most part equally accessible from one's home computer."

by **leoapp** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:57 am

So, now it's clear that Billboard changed the rule, that old songs are allowed to re-chart only if enough to make top 50 Hot 100.

Now, will they keep the rule for Xmas songs? If not, All I Want For Xmas Is You will re-chart every year!

LastFM · by **phoenix98** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:58 am

I was just thinking, "I wonder if anyone made a separate thread about this policy change?" :lol:

I'm about an hour too slow!

it's a bit funny that Billboard has to add a qualifier like "Top 50 only", but I think this is at least a step in the right direction, since a lot of people have had a problem with Billboard's rule of now allowing old songs to return at all (unless they were being "actively promoted at radio", but that was a whole ambiguous mess in itself).

people still won't be fans of the airplay inclusion, but now the Hot 100 is a bit more like the official UK chart.

by **WolfSpear** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:15 am

Remember when "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was #1 on Digital Songs. You think under this rule that it would have re-entered?

LastFM · by **phoenix98** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:20 am

WolfSpear wrote:Remember when "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was #1 on Digital Songs. You think under this rule that it would have re-entered?

Billboard's rules about holiday songs have been pretty confusing, so I'm not sure how this will affect them. with AIWFCIY, for example:

- it didn't chart in 1994 because of the "a song has to be released as a physical single to make the Hot 100" rule.

- Billboard started allowing airplay-only songs on the Hot 100 in 1998, but AIWFCIY didn't enter the Hot 100 until 2000, I believe because of the new So So Def Remix that was released that year.

but even though AIWFCIY has spent less than 20 weeks on the Hot 100, I think it hasn't been allowed to re-enter since (not counting the Bieber duet version, which was treated as a totally separate song by Billboard) because Billboard doesn't allow holiday songs to chart for more than one year/holiday season. does this new rule mean they'll be able to now? we don't know for sure, but I certainly hope so!

by **Goldmoney** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:28 am

The Billboard Hot 100 has officially become the UK Singles chart! :lol:

by **leoapp** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:30 am

Goldmoney wrote:The Billboard Hot 100 has officially become the UK Singles chart!

well, only the top 50 Hot 100 though

by **WolfSpear** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:32 am

Yeah, the holiday rules ... those are like a cat chasing it's tail. I'll summarize how they've handle holiday songs and albums

Singles & Albums:

1940-1962: All holiday songs and albums are eligible to enter the Hot 100 and the Billboard 200

1963-1973: Holiday songs and albums are restricted to the following charts: Christmas Singles and Christmas Albums

1974-1982: Christmas Albums and Singles charts are abolished. Holiday albums of old and new are allowed to chart on the Billboard 200. Only new holiday songs are allowed to enter the Hot 100 and can only do so for the season they debut in.

1983-1985: Some holiday songs can chart on the Hot 100 if they can be considered "pop" (Do They Know It's Christmas?), those that can't (Springsteen's Santa Claus Is Coming To Town) are placed on the newly resurrected Christmas Singles. A new Christmas Albums chart is born and albums can appear on both tallies.

1986: Christmas Singles and Christmas Albums charts not published.

1987-Present: Christmas Albums appears again and is still published to this day.

....