Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)

Contents

The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart. Whereas the Top 40 Mainstream and Pop 100 Airplay charts both measured the airplay of songs played on Mainstream stations playing pop-oriented music, the Pop 100 Airplay (like the Hot 100 Airplay) measures airplay was based on statistical impressions, while the Top 40 Mainstream chart used the number of total detections. Arbitron sometimes refers to the format as Pop Contemporary Hit Radio.

Records

Highest debut

Mariah Carey's set the record for the highest debut on the chart with Dreamlover which debuted at number 12. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is second, despite having only three days of play, with a number 14 debut. Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" and Madonna's "Frozen" follow with number 16 arrivals.[1]

Most weeks at number one

14 weeks

11 weeks

10 weeks

9 weeks

8 weeks

7 weeks

Most weekly plays

Artists with most number-one singles

Artists with most top 10 singles

Artist achievements

Chart criteria

There are 40 positions on this chart and it is solely based on radio airplay. 132 Top 40 Mainstream radio stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Songs are ranked by a calculation of the total number of spins per week with its "audience impression", which is based upon exact times of airplay and each station's Arbitron listener data.

Songs receiving the greatest growth will receive a "bullet", although there are tracks that will also get bullets if the loss in detections does not exceed the percentage of downtime from a monitored station. "Airpower" awards are issued to songs that appear on the top 20 of both the airplay and audience chart for the first time, while the "greatest gainer" award is given to song with the largest increase in detections. A song with six or more spins in its first week is awarded an "airplay add". If a song is tied for the most spins in the same week, the one with the biggest increase that previous week will rank higher, but if both songs show the same amount of spins regardless of detection the song that is being played at more stations is ranked higher. Songs that fall below the top 20 and have been on the chart after 26 weeks are removed and go to recurrent status.

Use in countdown shows

From January 9, 1993 up until its last first-run show on January 28, 1995, American Top 40 used this chart as its main source.

See also

References

External links