Comments on: Project X Turns On The AC

By: bcapirigi

bcapirigi — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:21:52 +0000

@Maura Johnston: True. And it's lengthy days in workplaces like that that make One More Try by George Michael seem like the best damn song ever recorded.

By: Michaelangelo Matos

Michaelangelo Matos — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:55:33 +0000

@Chris Molanphy: I'm not so sure the 30 positions thing turns my contention on its head so much as bolsters it. Obviously it's airtight and only admits that which is most broadly (and blandly) appealing. I might have made that more explicit, but it's pretty much what I was going for. And thanks for all the chart info--again, it confirmed my suspicions.

By: Michaelangelo Matos

Michaelangelo Matos — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:25:25 +0000

@Maura Johnston: yeah, you're definitely right about that, but if anything I think it just strengthens my point: the music "everyone knows" is the stuff that's been through a lot of filters--it arrives at knowability via a lot of intermediaries. that's why it can be listened to in mixed company without much bother.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:06:33 +0000

"The radio may mystically connect us all, but I'd wager that most of us listen to it unaccompanied."

i think, though, that ac stations are the ones that people listen to in collective settings more frequently (i.e. the ads about how ac stations are the ones that you can listen to at work).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:58:16 +0000

Why do I all of a sudden want a piece of dry white toast?

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:38:39 +0000

You're onto something here. There is something weirdly "pure" about the A/C charts, in that they mostly reflect the glacial pace of that format and the way the silent majority (to borrow Nixon's term) appropriate new music. I'll explain the "mostly" in a second.

Some data points, just to clear things up:

• Like several major charts (Modern/Mainstream Rock, Country), A/C is all-airplay. So you were right about the no-iTunes thing.

• At various points in the last 20 years, A/C has been the No. 1 measured format in the country according to Arbitron (lately, I think News/Talk has been the leader; country has also gone through leadership phases). So you're also right about the ubiquity.

• The one "unpure" thing about the A/C chart: Billboard removes songs that are more than 20 weeks old and fall below the Top 10. That's probably the most severe "recurrents" rule on any of their charts, but it's necessary, as you can see by the age of the records still polluting the upper reaches. In the early '90s, when Billboard switched to monitored airplay (which is to radio what SoundScan is to retail), they set the rule at retiring songs that fell below the Top 20; but that left songs on the chart forever.

This last rule is what I meant by "mostly"--the average American's perception of current music is actually even sleepier than this chart would indicate. But songs are retired as early as possible because otherwise half-decade-old Celine Dion hits would stick around forever. Even the rule doesn't always do its job: As I think I mentioned in a post some months ago, there was once a Savage Garden song that remained in the A/C Top 10 for more than two years.

In other words, to turn one of your contentions on its head: the chart is 30 positions not so much because that's how few new songs make it onto A/C radio every year, but because that's how big they have to make it to ensure that something new appears on the chart sometime (i.e., positions 11-30). If the chart reflected how really snoozy A/C radio is, it'd be 20 positions, max.