Mainstream Rock Tracks
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The Mainstream Rock Tracks chart is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music but are not modern rock (that is, "alternative") stations, which are counted in the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
This chart began with the March 21, 1981 issue of Billboard. It was originally named simply Rock Tracks, and was accompanied by a Rock Albums chart, which was discontinued in 1984. (A new chart with the same name has recently been introduced).[1] Before this, Billboard did not compile a chart specifically for rock songs. The closest thing to it was an Album Radio Action page which named some of the albums (but not songs) receiving airplay on album-oriented rock stations. The Rock Tracks chart originally listed 60 songs. The first number-one song was "I Can't Stand It" by Eric Clapton.
The chart changed its name to Album Rock Tracks in April 1986. During the 1980s, a subgenre of rock music began to develop and gain popularity, known as New Wave, or Modern Rock. The Album Rock Tracks chart included some New Wave songs, but usually only those with crossover appeal to mainstream listeners. Radio stations devoted entirely to this new category of rock music began to grow in popularity, but data from these stations were not included in compiling the Album Rock chart.
In order to give more recognition to Modern Rock, Billboard began a separate Modern Rock Tracks chart, beginning with the September 10, 1988 issue. The Album Rock Tracks chart remained as before, and it continued to include Modern Rock songs with crossover appeal. Within two months of the first Modern Rock Tracks chart, the song "Desire" by U2 became the first song to reach number-one on both of these two Rock Tracks charts.
In 1996, Album Rock Tracks once again changed its name, to Mainstream Rock Tracks. This occurred soon after Billboard established the Adult Top 40 chart. Like Modern Rock Tracks, Adult Top 40 also had some songs in common with Mainstream Rock Tracks. Ironically, Adult Top 40 has often featured artists who were once prominent on the Rock Tracks charts, but were now considered too "soft" for rock radio.
Mainstream Rock Tracks was published in the print edition of Billboard for the last time in its July 26, 2003 issue. The chart is still compiled, but it is only available through the magazine's website. In recent years, fewer and fewer classic rock artists have released new music which has appeared on the chart; as such, the artists appearing on this chart have almost become a subset of those appearing on Modern Rock Tracks. The last number one song on Mainstream Rock Tracks which did not appear anywhere on Modern Rock Tracks was Jaded by Aerosmith in 2001.
The current number-one song on Mainstream Rock Tracks (for the week ending December 16, 2006) is "The Pot" by Tool.
Shown below are the songs which have spent the most weeks in the number one spot. Most of these songs are from recent years, in part because the top spot experiences much less turnover than it used to. Prior to 1994, only three songs had spent ten or more weeks at number one:
21 weeks
- "Loser" by 3 Doors Down (2000)
20 weeks
- "It's Been Awhile" by Staind in (2001)
18 weeks
17 weeks
- "When I'm Gone" by 3 Doors Down in (2002-03)
16 weeks
- "Touch, Peel, and Stand" by Days of the New in (1997)
15 weeks
- "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots in (1994)
- "Heavy" by Collective Soul in (1999)
14 weeks
- "So Far Away" by Staind in (2003)
- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day in (2005)
13 weeks
- "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones (1981)
- "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback in (2001)
- "Figured You Out" by Nickelback in (2004)
12 weeks
- "Like a Stone" by Audioslave in (2003)
- "Save Me" by Shinedown in (2005)
- "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers in (2006)
11 weeks
- "Mysterious Ways" by U2 in (1991-92)
- "Remedy" by The Black Crowes in (1992)
- "Fall to Pieces" by Velvet Revolver in (2004)
10 weeks
- "Lightning Crashes" by Live in (1995)
[edit] See also
- List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
[edit] Trivia
- Van Halen holds the record for the most singles to hit number-one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with eleven singles. Tom Petty has the second most with ten singles. Aerosmith has the third most with nine singles.
- John Mellencamp holds the record for the most singles by a solo artist to hit number-one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with eight singles.
- Only twice have two consecutive number-one songs been by the same artist. In 1992, the Black Crowes hit number-one with "Remedy", followed by "Sting Me". In 1994, the Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline" hit number-one and was replaced by its album mate, "Interstate Love Song".
- Two songs have performed a "hat trick" by reaching number-one on Mainstream Rock Tracks, Modern Rock Tracks, and Adult Top 40. The first was "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers in 1997. The second was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day in 2005.
