Billboard charts facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Billboard charts are special lists published by Billboard magazine. They show how popular different songs, music groups, and singers are. The Billboard Hot 100 is the most famous chart. It comes out every week in the United States. This chart uses information from how much a song is played on the radio and how many copies are sold to find the most popular song each week.

How Songs Become Popular
Popular Albums
See also

How Songs Become Popular

All Kinds of Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
The Billboard Hot 100	Sales + Radio Plays	100	This chart lists the top 100 songs played on radio stations and sold.
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles		25	This chart lists the top 25 songs that are almost, but not quite, in the Hot 100. A song cannot be on this list if it has already been on the Hot 100.
Heatseekers Songs		25	This chart is for songs by new artists or bands who haven't reached the top 50 of the Hot 100 yet. If a song or artist makes it into the top 50, they can't be on this chart anymore.
Hot 100 Airplay	Radio Plays (Audience)	75	This chart measures how often songs are played on 1,233 radio stations.
Hot Singles Sales	Physical Sales	50	This chart tracks the sales of CD singles.
Hot Digital Songs	Digital Sales	75	This chart ranks the top-selling digital songs.
Hot Digital Tracks	Digital Sales	75	This chart ranks digital song sales, including different versions like remixes or radio edits.

R&B and Hip-Hop Music

Chart Name	What it Shows
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	This chart lists the most popular songs from R&B and Hip-Hop radio stations and music sales.
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay	This chart measures how much R&B and Hip-Hop songs are played on the radio.
Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop	This chart ranks songs based on how many times they are played on 76 R&B/Hip-Hop radio stations.
Hot Adult R&B Airplay	This chart measures how much music is played on 65 Urban Adult Contemporary radio stations.
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales	This chart tracks the sales of R&B and Hip-Hop singles.
Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles	This chart ranks the top 25 R&B/Hip-Hop singles that are just below the main Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Rhythmic Top 40	This chart measures how much music is played on 72 rhythmic radio stations. These stations play a mix of dance, pop, hip-hop, and R&B hits.
Hot Rap Songs	This chart ranks the top 25 Hip-Hop and Rap songs.
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrents	This chart lists R&B/Hip-Hop songs that have been on the main chart for over 20 weeks and have dropped below the top 50.
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay	This chart lists R&B/Hip-Hop songs that have been on the airplay chart for over 20 weeks and have dropped below the top 25.

Adult and Pop Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Top 40 Mainstream	Radio Plays (Spins)	40	This chart measures how often songs are played on 141 pop radio stations.
Adult Top 40		40	This chart measures how often songs are played on 90 Hot Adult Contemporary radio stations.
Adult Contemporary		30	This chart measures how often songs are played on 85 Adult Contemporary radio stations.

Country Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Hot Country Songs	Radio Plays (Audience)	60	This chart measures how often songs are played on 126 country music radio stations.

Rock Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Rock Songs	Radio Plays (Audience)	50	This chart measures how often songs are played on 180 rock radio stations. This includes mainstream, alternative, and active rock stations.
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	Radio Plays (Spins)	40	This chart measures how often songs are played on mainstream rock radio stations.
Alternative Songs		40	This chart measures how often songs are played on alternative or "modern rock" stations.
Active Rock		40	This chart measures how often songs are played on 57 active rock radio stations, which play new and classic rock songs.
Heritage Rock		30	This chart measures how often songs are played on 22 heritage rock radio stations.
Triple A		30	This chart measures how often songs are played on Adult Album Alternative (Triple A) radio stations, which often play alternative rock for an older audience.

Dance Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Hot Dance Club Songs	Reports from DJs	50	This chart is based on reports from DJs about popular songs in dance clubs.
Dance/Mix Show Airplay	Continuous radio plays and mix show plays	25	This chart measures how often dance songs are played on radio and in DJ mixes.
Hot Dance Singles Sales	Sales	10	This chart tracks the sales of dance singles.
Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs	Digital Sales	50	This chart ranks the top-selling digital dance and electronic songs.

Latin Music

Chart Name	What it Shows
Hot Latin Songs	This chart lists the most popular Latin songs.
Latin Pop Airplay	This chart measures how much Latin Pop music is played on the radio.
Latin Regional Mexican Airplay	This chart measures how much Regional Mexican music is played on the radio.
Latin Tropical Airplay	This chart measures how much Latin Tropical music is played on the radio.
Latin Rhythm Airplay	This chart measures how much Latin Rhythm music is played on the radio.

Christian Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Christian Songs	Radio Plays (Audience)	50	This chart measures how often Christian songs are played on the radio.
Hot Christian AC Songs	Radio Plays (Spins)	30	This chart measures how often Christian Adult Contemporary songs are played on the radio.
Hot Gospel Songs	Radio Plays (Spins)	30	This chart measures how often Gospel songs are played on the radio.

Jazz Music

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Songs	What it Shows
Smooth Jazz Songs	Radio Plays (Spins)	30	This chart measures how often songs are played on 14 smooth jazz radio stations.

Ringtones and Videos

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Items	What it Shows
Hot Ringtones	Ringtone Sales	40	This chart tracks the sales of popular ringtones.
Hot RingMasters	Ringtone Sales	40	This chart tracks the sales of master ringtones.
Hot Videoclips	Sales	25	This chart tracks the sales of popular music video clips.

Canadian Charts

Chart Name	How it's Measured	Number of Items	What it Shows
Canadian Hot 100	Radio Plays + Sales	100	This chart ranks the top 100 songs in Canada based on radio plays and sales.
Emerging Canadian Artist	Radio Plays + Sales	30	This chart highlights new Canadian artists.
Hot Digital Song	Digital Sales	75	This chart ranks the top-selling digital songs in Canada.
Hot 100 Airplay	Radio Plays (Audience)	75	This chart measures how often songs are played on Canadian radio stations.
All-format Airplay	Radio Plays (Spins)	50	This chart measures how often songs are played across all types of radio stations in Canada.
CHR/Top 40 Airplay		50	This chart measures how often songs are played on Canadian Top 40 radio stations.
AC Airplay		50	This chart measures how often songs are played on 28 Canadian Adult Contemporary radio stations.
Hot AC Airplay		50	This chart measures how often songs are played on 24 Canadian Hot Adult Contemporary radio stations.
Country Airplay		50	This chart measures how often songs are played on 31 Canadian country radio stations.
Rock Airplay		50	This chart measures how often songs are played on 29 Canadian rock radio stations.

International Charts

Chart Name	What it Shows
Brasil Hot 100 Airplay	This chart ranks the most listened-to songs in Brazil.
Euro Digital Songs	This chart ranks the best-selling digital songs in Europe.
European Hot 100 Singles	This chart ranks the best-selling singles across different countries in Europe.
Global Dance Tracks	This chart is a weekly list of the most popular songs in dance clubs around the world. It's based on playlists from nightclub DJs.
Japan Hot 100	This chart ranks the best-selling singles and songs in Japan.
Korea K-Pop Hot 100	This chart ranks the best-selling K-Pop singles and songs in South Korea.
Luxembourg Digital Songs	This chart ranks the best-selling digital singles and songs in Luxembourg.

Charts That Are No Longer Used

Chart Name	When it Stopped	What it Used to Show
Country Singles Sales	2005	This chart used to track the sales of country singles.
Pop 100	June 13, 2009	This chart ranked songs by combining how much they were played on pop radio and how many copies were sold. The Top 40 Mainstream chart now covers this.
Pop 100 Airplay	June 13, 2009	This chart measured how often pop songs were played on the radio.

Popular Albums

Chart Name	Number of Albums	What it Shows
The Billboard 200	200	This chart includes both new and older albums.
Top Current Albums	200	This is the same as the Billboard 200, but it only includes newer albums.
Top Pop Catalog Albums	50	An album becomes a "catalog" album if it's older than 18 months and has dropped below position 100 on the Billboard 200.
Top Internet Albums	40	This chart ranks albums sold online.
Tastemakers		This chart highlights albums that are popular with music experts and trendsetters.
Top Digital Albums	50	This chart ranks the top-selling digital albums.
Heatseekers Albums	50	This chart ranks albums from new artists or bands who haven't reached the top 100 of the Billboard 200 yet. If an album or artist makes it into the top 100, they can't be on this chart anymore.
Heatseekers Albums (East North Central)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the East North Central USA.
Heatseekers Albums (Middle Atlantic)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the Middle Atlantic USA.
Heatseekers Albums (Mountain)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the Mountain West USA.
Heatseekers Albums (Northeast)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the Northeast USA.
Heatseekers Albums (Pacific)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the Pacific USA.
Heatseekers Albums (South Atlantic)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the South Atlantic USA.
Heatseekers Albums (South Central)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the South Central USA.
Heatseekers Albums (West North Central)		This chart is a regional version of the Heatseekers Albums chart for the West North Central USA.
Top Independent Albums	50	This chart ranks the top 50 albums released by independent record labels.
Top Rock Albums	25	This chart ranks the top rock albums.
Top Alternative Albums		This chart ranks the top alternative rock albums.
Top Hard Rock Albums	20	This chart ranks the top hard rock albums.
Top Folk Albums	15	This chart ranks the top folk music albums.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	100	This chart ranks the top R&B and Hip-Hop albums.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums	100	This chart ranks older R&B and Hip-Hop albums.
Top Rap Albums	30	This chart ranks the top rap albums.
Top Country Albums	75	This chart ranks the top country albums.
Top Country Catalog Albums	75	This chart ranks older country albums.
Top Bluegrass Albums	15	This chart ranks the top bluegrass albums.
Top Latin Albums	30	This chart ranks the top Latin albums.
Regional Mexican Albums		This chart ranks the top Regional Mexican albums.
Latin Pop Albums	30	This chart ranks the top Latin Pop albums.
Tropical Albums		This chart ranks the top Tropical music albums.
Latin Rhythm Albums		This chart ranks the top Latin Rhythm albums.
Top Classical Albums		This chart ranks traditional classical music albums.
Top Classical Crossover Albums		This chart ranks classical albums that mix with other music styles.
Classical Albums		This chart is available online and ranks classical albums.
Top Classical Budget Albums		This chart ranks classical albums that are sold at a lower price.
Top Classical Midline Albums		This chart ranks classical albums sold at a mid-range price.
Top Christian Albums	50	This chart ranks the top Christian music albums.
Top Gospel Albums	40	This chart ranks the top Gospel music albums.
Top Christian & Gospel Albums		This chart combines Christian and Gospel albums.
Top Jazz Albums		This chart ranks traditional jazz albums.
Top Contemporary Jazz		This chart ranks contemporary jazz albums.
Jazz Albums	35	This chart is available online and ranks jazz albums.
Top Dance/Electronic Albums	25	This chart ranks the top dance and electronic music albums.
Top Blues Albums		This chart ranks the top blues music albums.
Top Cast Albums		This chart measures sales of music from plays and musicals.
Top Comedy Albums		This chart ranks the top comedy albums.
Top Compilation Albums	20	This chart ranks albums that are collections of songs by different artists.
Top Holiday Albums	50	This chart ranks the top holiday and Christmas albums.
Top Kid Audio	15	This chart ranks the top audio albums for kids.
Top New Age Albums		This chart ranks the top New Age music albums.
Top Reggae Albums		This chart ranks the top reggae albums.
Top Soundtracks	30	This chart ranks the top movie and TV show soundtracks.
Top World Albums		This chart ranks the best-selling world music albums, including older ones.