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Post by billcs on Apr 4, 2023 15:16:50 GMT -5
Billboard's internal manipulation of the Hot 100 seemed to start in the early 70's, then seemed to settle down for the 80's and most of the 90's and 00's, before resurfacing in the '10's. Feel free to add other stories or ask any questions and I'll try to research those that are not really well known. Please don't add anecdotes simply because you didn't like a particular song.
Some of these include:
* Paul McCartney & Wings' "Live and Let Die" leapt from 21-3 on August 4, 1973 but never got to #1, holding at #2 for 3 weeks. It was kept out of #1 by three different number ones - Maureen McGovern's "The Morning After", Diana Ross' "Touch Me In The Morning" and The Stories' "Brother Louie". What are the odds this could happen?
* In 1974, five one week number ones dropped from 1-12 the next week, and all but one were succeeded by the song at #2, and two songs dropped from 1-15. There is NO WAY this could have happened without chart tampering.
* In 1975, there was a huge question about how Tony Orlando & Dawn's "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" kept rising up the chart with no major radio stations reporting it. The record company attributed it to smart promotion... uh, not!
* In 2012, PSY's worldwide smash "Gangnam Style" is held back from reaching #1 by... Maroon 5's "One More Night". HOW.
* In 2013, Billboard changed its chart rules, which bizarrely allowed Baauer's "Harlem Shake" to debut at #1. Coincidence? NOT.
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Post by Vic on Apr 4, 2023 19:25:52 GMT -5
Not sure if you are including payola speculation...There is the infamous "Shadow Dancing" keeping "Baker Street Out of the top spot. People at the time thought there was some RSO money passed under the table
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Post by FreakyFlyBry on Apr 4, 2023 19:47:52 GMT -5
Don't forget 1982 where so many singles held at their peak positions for many weeks on end... then fell like a rock right after!
The biggest example of this has to be Air Supply falling from #6 all the way out of the top 40 with "Even The Nights Are Better".
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Post by billcs on Apr 4, 2023 21:29:29 GMT -5
Not sure if you are including payola speculation...There is the infamous "Shadow Dancing" keeping "Baker Street Out of the top spot. People at the time thought there was some RSO money passed under the table No, because there was always speculation about that happening in general. Casablanca Records apparently did the same with some songs like KISS' "Christine Sixteen".
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Post by billcs on Apr 4, 2023 21:30:20 GMT -5
Don't forget 1982 where so many singles held at their peak positions for many weeks on end... then fell like a rock right after! The biggest example of this has to be Air Supply falling from #6 all the way out of the top 40 with "Even The Nights Are Better". Feel free to provide any other examples! Ah yes, the year that Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You" was #2 for 10 weeks...
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Post by FreakyFlyBry on Apr 4, 2023 22:16:34 GMT -5
Don't forget 1982 where so many singles held at their peak positions for many weeks on end... then fell like a rock right after! The biggest example of this has to be Air Supply falling from #6 all the way out of the top 40 with "Even The Nights Are Better". Feel free to provide any other examples! Ah yes, the year that Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You" was #2 for 10 weeks... And conveniently stayed #2 for its 10th week as Olivia Newton-John fell only to be leapfrogged by Hall & Oates... Speaking of which, the time the four Beatles all had solo hits in the top 40 in late 1974 is another example. "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" stalling at #40 on its way out was a little too suspicious....
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Post by Vic on Apr 5, 2023 10:32:27 GMT -5
Don't forget 1982 where so many singles held at their peak positions for many weeks on end... then fell like a rock right after! The biggest example of this has to be Air Supply falling from #6 all the way out of the top 40 with "Even The Nights Are Better". Feel free to provide any other examples! Ah yes, the year that Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You" was #2 for 10 weeks... tread lightly on Foreigner being stuck at # 2 I never heard anything about any suspicious activity at the time
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Post by Pipa on Apr 5, 2023 11:37:19 GMT -5
If we go over to our friends at Cashbox, Wayne Newton had arguably the most bizarre chart run ever. "The Letter" peaked at #1 on their Country chart in the summer of 1992, and then #1 on their Pop chart in the winter...only to never appear on any other chart. Not on Billboard, not on Wayne Newton's personal chart, nowhere. Who was listening to Wayne Newton in 1992? That's the equivalent of Michael Bolton scoring a pop hit today. Did he personally pay for this himself?
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Post by billcs on Apr 5, 2023 14:01:18 GMT -5
Feel free to provide any other examples! Ah yes, the year that Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You" was #2 for 10 weeks... tread lightly on Foreigner being stuck at # 2 I never heard anything about any suspicious activity at the time Except, as FreakyFlyBry says above, Hall & Oates jumped over it to get to #1.
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Post by billcs on Apr 5, 2023 14:05:14 GMT -5
Don't forget 1982 where so many singles held at their peak positions for many weeks on end... then fell like a rock right after! The biggest example of this has to be Air Supply falling from #6 all the way out of the top 40 with "Even The Nights Are Better". Yes there were all kinds of weird drops on the charts I looked at between August and October 1982. Songs falling out of the Top 40 from the Top 10, songs falling out of the Top 30 into the 70's, 80's and 90's. That hardly seems like a natural flow, perhaps they bent chart rules to allow more new music to infiltrate the Top 40. Record label reps had a lot of power in the late 60's and early 70's to convince radio stations to drop songs after six or seven weeks so they could promote the next one (similar strategy seems to be in place for streaming these days ), but that was circumvented when album rock started to get popular and songs started sticking around on local charts for more than 20 weeks.
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Post by billcs on Apr 8, 2023 20:06:54 GMT -5
Here's another one: Beyonce & Shakira's "Beautiful Liar" leaps 94-3 in 2007 and sets a record at the time - and peaks at #3.
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Post by Courage on Apr 11, 2023 12:11:14 GMT -5
And one just happened this week. New rule going into effect results in Jimin collapsing 1-45.
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Post by Vic on Apr 11, 2023 17:29:50 GMT -5
What specific rule changed? It can't be streaming numbers since BTs fans are over the top nutso with their plays.
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Post by Courage on Apr 11, 2023 21:07:35 GMT -5
It had something to do with the limiting of digital sales per account.
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Post by billcs on Apr 12, 2023 15:25:42 GMT -5
And one just happened this week. New rule going into effect results in Jimin collapsing 1-45. If this did have a specific effect on this release, then it tarnishes all of Billboard's praise for JIMIN's solo release. Sometimes I don't think Billboard knows what hand is doing what anymore. Apparently there is some question about around 100,000 sales which Billboard did not count...
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