Chart Year Breaks

Piggybacking off what CountryPD said, if there are multiple weeks at #1 you could easily go with the last week the song was at #1 and the audience would likely buy into your date.

For me, I look at the MIDDLE date the song is at #1 as its peak week of interest. If it was #1 3 weeks in 1982 and #4 weeks in 1983, it's a 1983 song in my book.

I've had one music history fanatic catch me for not having a song identified by its release year... but no other listeners have expressed any concern on any of my dates.

Good luck!!

EdisonLite wrote: I think most of us would agree that a song that crosses over between 2 years shouldn't have its points divided between years. A #1 song could not make the top 100 songs of either year, that way! let's say you mainly went with the year the song peaked, but you found an instance, where say: the song peaked at #1 on Jan. 10th 1973 and spent 6 weeks on the chart in 1973, but spent 12 weeks on the chart in 1972, you could make an argument that it felt more like a hit in 1972.

I totally agree that a song should be given its entire
chart run to determine its placement. Though, later, I
intend to use just the points in each year for comparison
sake.

Your fictional example is pretty close to what actually
happened with "Please Don't Go". On Jan. 5th, the 20th
week of a 26-week chart run, it finally reached the #1
position. Six weeks later, it was completely off the
chart. So, 19-weeks (or 73%) of its time on the chart
was in 1979.

NightAire wrote: Piggybacking off what CountryPD said, if there are multiple weeks at #1 you could easily go with the last week the song was at #1 and the audience would likely buy into your date. For me, I look at the MIDDLE date the song is at #1 as its peak week of interest. If it was #1 3 weeks in 1982 and #4 weeks in 1983, it's a 1983 song in my book. I've had one music history fanatic catch me for not having a song identified by its release year... but no other listeners have expressed any concern on any of my dates. Good luck!!

The problem I'm seeing with using the peak position is
that it doesn't always give a clear indication of the
popularity of a record. I'm seeing a lot of cases (I'm
working in the early 60's right now) where a track will
reach it's peak in the first few weeks of its run, then
drop just a few spots and meander around in that general
area for several weeks after that.

Though we like to think that a song is less popular if
its at #23 than at #20, the truth is that a lot of that
depends on how popular the songs around it were in that
particular week. There have actually been cases where a
record will make a backwards move on the chart, but
maintain its bullet because it was actually GAINING at
the time.

So, it a record peaks at #20 on the final week of the
year, but spends the next month or more between #22 and
#25, its possible for it to actual accumulate more points
after reaching its peak than before.

So, as I stated, no single rule will satisfy all
instances.

I agree, put the record in the year where it achieved the most chart points. Rank it
there, but also calculate the rank of each year, using each year's separate chart
points, and put that info in there somewhere, either in parentheses or a side
note/footnote. So all info is recorded, history as it was !!

[Back in the day when I made my mix tapes, taping songs off the radio, I put a song on
my tape when it first made the local Top 40 countdown, or the first time I heard it.
Kinda like debut date. And I love those old tapes, without regard to when the song
actually peaked. They are now all automatically in my head, I know which song is coming
up next, ha.]

ChicagoBill wrote: I've always gone with the chart debut date. I think of "I'm A Believer" as a hit from 1966. I can think about what I was doing when I first heard the song. That gave me my first impression, and to me, that's what counts. -Bill.

My only concern with debut date is that it isn't how we
remember it. I saw a book listing the best-selling albums
of all-time and it was organized by decade, but it used
the debut date, so it claims that Pink Floyd "The Wall"
was one of the best selling albums of the 70's. I was
shocked to see that.

I also played music trivia during a Disney Cruise, and I
kept messing up the dates because I had no idea "Ride
Like The Wind" by Christopher Cross was released in 1979,
because I never heard it once until 1980.
There were quite a few songs I missed because the debut
date was the year prior to when it was very popular.

Edited by hellogator