OT-charts question

I know some of you are/were DJs and I was wondering if
anyone has any insight on chart placings (specifically in
the 80s). On the Steve Hoffman board there was a small
discussion about Madonna's "Angel" and how it probably
reached top 5 (US) on the strength of "Into The Groove"
being available on its B-side. My thinking is that, since
ITG was only on the B-side of the 12 inch single that would
have no effect at all on the chart placing of "Angel" as
sales of the 12" wouldn't reflect on the top 100, just
airplay and 7" single sales would. I, of course, could be
totally wrong and was just wondering if I am. Thanks!

I believe MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" was only
available commercially as a 12" single and still made it
to #8. Why it was different with "Into The Groove", I
have no idea, unless it was because "Angel" was the A-
Side.

Edited by thecdguy

NightAire wrote: Somebody else will know better than I do, but I always thought 12" and 7" singles were both counted in sales.

Paul Haney's explanation is, of
course, accurate. I would like to clarify that I remember
in that era 12" & 7" singles were only counted together
in Hot 100 sales points if they both featured the same B
side on each release . (Additional cuts on the 12" were
OK to have.)

On the "Angel" commercial 45, the B side was a 'Dance Mix
Edit' of "Angel". On the commercial 12" the A side was an
extended dance mix of "Angel"; the B side was IIRC a
longer version of the same mix of "Into The Groove" that
was featured in the movie "Desparately Seeking Susan".

I remember about a month or so before the 12" came out I
supplied WGFM, a local CHR station, a dub of the
promotional video (Hi-fi VHS) extracted "Into The
Groove". I was playing it off of tape at the clubs I was
working - It was instantly HUGE - much greater response
than "Angel" (although "Angel" didn't perform all that
bad, either...)

Andy

Edited by AndrewChouffi

FWIW, a special supplement called How We Track The Hits was published in Billboard in April 1988 and said:

Radio stations report their entire playlist. Each retail reporter identifies its 30 best-selling singles for the week, combining sales in all four configurations (7 inch, 12 inch, cassette single and cassette maxi single).
...
Every record that charts on the Hot 100 must (1) have airplay reported by at least 10 reporting stations on the panel and (2) receive at least 125 airplay points from those 10 (or more) stations. The record must be commercially available in at least one of the four single configurations.

Of course, maybe things were slightly different in '84.