rembrandts "i’ll be there for you"

Ed, regardless of whether or not "This House Is Not A Home" was deemed to be the lead track on the cassingle, it wasn't the actual hit. That's why "I'll Be There For You" is listed first in the Whitburn books. And radio airplay over multiple formats was a big reason for that:

#17 pop BB
#1 AC (for seven weeks)
#23 modern rock

By the time the 45 was issued, there was no question about what the hit was, and while THINAH was included on the B-side, it was merely the fifth of six album snippets.

THINAH did receive saturation airplay on the local Twin Cities AA station.



Edited by Yah Shure

yah sure...that's my point...

you said:
By the time the 45 was issued, there was no question about what the hit was, and while THINAH was included on the B-side, it was merely the fifth of six album snippets.

my point is that THINAH was issued as the A-side and not the B-side.....and i know the song "i'll be there for you" was a huge hit.....

Edited by edtop40

Ed, both Todd Ireland and Yah Sure have really explained this particular situation very well.

Our policy for years has been to list the higher-charting side first, regardless of what the intended "A" or "B" side was originally.

It was Billboard's policy at the time that the song receiving the most airplay at Top 40 stations (airplay data from other radio formats was not used for the Hot 100 until November 1998) be listed first. What song was indicated as the A-side on the physical single was not relevant.

Yah Shure wrote: Ed, my "by the time the 45 was issued" comment was in regard to the commercial 45 having been released even later than the cassingle, and I apologize for not having been more specific.

I'm pretty sure the 7-inch single of IBTFY was actually issued well before it appeared as the B-side of the cassette and CD singles of THINAH. At the time that IBTFY was at its peak in Top 40 airplay (and not on the Hot 100 because of its non-availability at retail), I recall a discussion in Billboard's Chart Beat column (don't know if Paul Grein was still writing it or whether Fred Bronson had taken over by then) that readers had brought up that the song was in fact available on a 7-inch single. Grein or Bronson responded that a song issued commercially only on a 7-inch single was not eligible to chart; it had to be issued on a cassette single, CD single, 12-inch single, or one of the other maxi-single formats.

IBTFY didn't become eligible to chart until it was issued as the B-side on the cassette and CD singles of the follow-up, "This House Is Not A Home." But because IBTFY continued to receive more Top 40 airplay throughout the single's chart run, it was always listed first.

There were a few instances during this time period when Billboard flipped which song it listed first during a single's chart run. 2Pac's "California Love" was not available as a commercial single during its radio peak. It was eventually released as the B-side of the follow-up "How Do U Want It". During the first two weeks of the single's chart run, however, "California Love" was still receiving more Top 40 airplay, so it was listed first. By the third week, "How Do U Want It" had surpassed "California Love" in Top 40 airplay and HDUWI started to be listed first. (Another example is the Gin Blossoms' "Til I Hear It From You"/"Follow Me Down".)

At the time, it appears Billboard would list a "tag-along" side if it was receiving any Top 40 airplay at all. At some point between 1996 and 1998, Billboard decided that both sides of a single would only be listed if both sides were on the 75 position Hot 100 airplay chart. If neither song was on the Hot 100 airplay chart, whatever song was receiving the most Top 40 airplay would be listed. This led to the extremely unusual chart run of Puff Daddy's single "It's All About The Benjamins"/"Been Around The World". Neither song was in the Top 75 in airplay at Top 40 stations, so initially only IAATB was listed. By the seventh week, both songs had yet to make the Top 75 in airplay, but BATW had surpassed IAATB in airplay at Top 40 stations, so Billboard started listing BATW on the Hot 100, and IAATB (which had been at #2 the week before) completely disappeared from the chart. (From November 1991 until November 1998, the airplay component of the Hot 100 was strictly Top 40 - including its sub-genres: Mainstream, rhythmic, etc., but not AC, AOR, Rock - but the sales component was not. But that's a topic for another day's soliloquy.)

Just to clarify since it's come up here a couple of times... It was Fred Bronson who wrote the Chart Beat article in Billboard magazine explaining why "I'll Be There for You" was ineligible to chart. Bronson took over the Chart Beat column from Paul Grein in January, 1993 and has been authoring it ever since.