Really really loved this - Everything here so perfectly captures trends I think we’ve all been “feeling” even if we couldn’t put a number to them (until you did!) I’ve personally been very interested in how few albums can generate multiple #1s for multiple weeks based on the same trends you cited.
How did you land on 4 weeks as the cut off instead of something higher when the average is 16? 4 seems right to me, just curious!
My four-week benchmark is from observing how long songs generally have to stay in the Top 10 to receive significant radio airplay and become culturally relevant. I admit it's based on my observations, not a specific calculation, but it does seem to hold up throughout the decades. Today's 16-week average is artificially long because of the handful of songs that stay in the Top 10 however these days, such as "Lose control's" record-setting 80 weeks in the Top 10. Thanks for the astute question!
Great read. Might have missed it but billboard does cap the number of streams from a single listener in a given week, although there are likely ways around that
They do. While the exact number is a trade secret, Luminate/Billboard discards data from users who stream a song multiple times per day as part of their QC process for eliminating bots.
This was probably the BEST column yet from you. It will probably ruffle feathers and hurt the feelings of some fans of certain artists, but so be it. Maybe Billboard and the industry are reading ??
Really really loved this - Everything here so perfectly captures trends I think we’ve all been “feeling” even if we couldn’t put a number to them (until you did!) I’ve personally been very interested in how few albums can generate multiple #1s for multiple weeks based on the same trends you cited.
How did you land on 4 weeks as the cut off instead of something higher when the average is 16? 4 seems right to me, just curious!
My four-week benchmark is from observing how long songs generally have to stay in the Top 10 to receive significant radio airplay and become culturally relevant. I admit it's based on my observations, not a specific calculation, but it does seem to hold up throughout the decades. Today's 16-week average is artificially long because of the handful of songs that stay in the Top 10 however these days, such as "Lose control's" record-setting 80 weeks in the Top 10. Thanks for the astute question!
Great read. Might have missed it but billboard does cap the number of streams from a single listener in a given week, although there are likely ways around that
They do. While the exact number is a trade secret, Luminate/Billboard discards data from users who stream a song multiple times per day as part of their QC process for eliminating bots.
This was probably the BEST column yet from you. It will probably ruffle feathers and hurt the feelings of some fans of certain artists, but so be it. Maybe Billboard and the industry are reading ??