Hits Daily Double Sales Chart

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

The Billboard charts have become somewhat of a joke. They have changed their rules for chart placement so many times in the last 15 years that they have lost credibility. The rules should be adjusted in certain cases (e.g. consumers switching from CD to digital being the most obvious one), but they have made the most random, nonsensical changes in the past, changes that have affected whether a song hits number one or even charts at all! One of the stupidest rules that they had in place was disallowing a song from charting because it did not have a physical (commercial) single, preventing songs that were clearly hits from getting due credit. Well, today, any song that gets airplay has the potential to chart, regardless of a commercial single.

Of all the bonehead rules adopted by Billboard, I think the stupidest is the one counting YouTube hits, which is the main reason why crap like "Harlem Shuffle" and "Gangnam Style" managed to become U.S. chart hits. And I wonder how Billboard is able to tease out and tally on the hits that originated in the U.S., or if they are counting all hits from any viewer in the world. Yes, the artist/label is paid some ridiculously nominal fee by YouTube (like $0.07 per 10 hits). But unless you are Justin Bieber or Psy, it's hard to make any money this way.