Hot Country Songs

Information about Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.

This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales. Currently, the chart does not count digital downloads towards chart tabulation (although singles that are only available as downloads do chart if they receive enough airplay).

History

Billboard began compiling the popularity of country songs with its January 8, 1944 issue. However, only the genre's most popular jukebox selections were tabulated, with the chart titled "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records." The chart length was not standardized; a given week had anywhere from two to eight positions.

For approximately ten years, from 1948-1958, Billboard used several charts to measure the popularity of a given song. These included:
  • The "best sellers" chart – started May 15, 1948 as "Best Selling Retail Folk Records." This chart had anywhere from 10-20 positions during its ten-year life, with the number of positions varying each week.
  • A "jockeys" chart – started December 10, 1949 as "Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys." This chart had anywhere from eight to 15 positions, varying from week to week.
The names of each chart changed slightly during each chart's life. The "jukebox" chart – which by 1956 was known as "Most Played C&W in Juke Boxes" – ended on June 17, 1957. The "best sellers" and "jockeys" charts continued until October 13, 1958.

Starting with the October 20, 1958 issue, Billboard began combining sales and radio airplay in figuring a song's overall popularity, counting them in one single chart called "Hot C&W Sides." The chart began with a standard length of 30 positions each week. The name of the chart, and the number of positions varied through the years: Its name was switched to "Hot Country Singles" on November 3, 1962; it was expanded to 50 slots on January 11, 1964; then 75 on October 15, 1966; and finally 100 beginning July 14, 1973. On January 20, 1990, it was reduced back to 75 positions and began to be compiled entirely from information provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, a system which electronically monitors radio airplay of songs. Four weeks later, on February 17, the chart was retitled "Hot Country Singles & Tracks." Beginning with the January 13, 2001 issue, the chart was cut from 75 to 60 positions to reduce the number of album cuts that were reaching the charts; and effective April 30, 2005 the chart was renamed "Hot Country Songs".

Currently, American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks is the only syndicated countdown show to use this chart; the show plays back the top 40 singles/tracks on it for each week.

Chart policies

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As with the Billboard Hot 100 and most other Billboard charts, the Hot Country Songs chart features a rule for when a song enters recurrent rotation. Starting with the chart week of December 2, 2006, a song is declared recurrent on the country charts if it meets the following criteria:
  • It has been on the charts for more than twenty weeks;
  • It is not gaining in spins or audience impressions; and
  • It is lower than #10 in rank for either spins or audience.
Exceptions are sometimes made in special cases, such as a marginal decrease in audience. If a special holiday single is released, it may only enter the chart once.

Further reading

  • Whitburn, Joel. "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2006.

External links

See also

Billboard charts
Albums
Billboard 200 | Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | Top Electronic Albums | Top Pop Catalog Albums | Billboard Comprehensive Albums | Top Heatseekers
Singles and tracks
Hot 100 | Hot 100 Airplay | Hot 100 Singles Sales | Hot 100 Singles Recurrents | Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales | Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles | Hot Rap Tracks | Pop 100 | Pop 100 Airplay | Hot Digital Songs | Hot Digital Tracks | Top 40 Tracks (defunct) | Top 40 Mainstream | Rhythmic Top 40 | Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks | Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | Latin Rhythm Tracks | Modern Rock Tracks | Mainstream Rock Tracks | Hot Country Songs | Hot Dance Club Play | Hot Dance Airplay | Hot Dance Singles Sales | Hot Latin Tracks | Hot Christian Songs | Hot Ringtones | Hot RingMasters | Canadian Hot 100
Lists of number-ones
Billboard 200 | Hot 100 (Motown; by artist nationality: Australian, British, Canadian, European | Hot Dance Club Play | Modern Rock Tracks | Mainstream Rock Tracks | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Lists of artists who reached number-one
Hot 100 (by total number; simultaneous U.S. and UK hits) | Hot Dance Club Play | Modern Rock Tracks | Mainstream Rock Tracks | Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
See also
Billboard Radio Monitor (defunct) | Billboard Year-End | Hot 100 achievements (most hit singles from an album) |
Hot Country Songs achievements | Pop 100 achievements | R&R
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Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis.
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Country music, the first half of Billboard's country and western music category, is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time music and
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American Country Countdown" -- also known as "ACC" or "American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks" -- is an internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 40 country songs of the previous week, from No. 40 to No.
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on airplay and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the airplay
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Recurrent rotation refers to a group of songs still frequently aired on a CHR radio station even several months after the initial debut.

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American Country Countdown" -- also known as "ACC" or "American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks" -- is an internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 40 country songs of the previous week, from No. 40 to No.
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This article highlights significant milestones and achievements based upon Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs (and its titled predecessors) chart, and accomplishments on the Hot Country Albums chart.
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This page indexes the individual year in country music pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

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