How
The Top Pop Songs of All Time began:
RockOnTheNet.com's
official pop songs chart, The ARC Weekly Top 40, began in 1980. The chart has
adapted over the years to include video exposure and
digital popularity, along with the on-going analysis
of radio airplay and sales.
Years of
data collection and respect for the ever-changing
music scene resulted in the creation of Rock
On The Net in June, 1997. The ARC Weekly Top 40 continued and still continues
to be the main source of Rock On The Net's chart
references for songs released since 1980.
Over the
years, Rock On The Net has received numerous requests
for chart information pre-dating 1980 and because our
chart didn't exist yet, we would often refer the
requests to the chart history of Billboard magazine (most notably the books of Joel
Whitburn).
The ARC Weekly Top 40 is based on a statistic
methodology that was created in 1980, and continues
today which results in a final point total based on a
songs chart run (including weeks prior to entering
the Top 40). This point system has allowed us to
tally year-end charts of the top pop songs of the
year, and by decade. The point system (and resulting
data base of songs) ranks every song that has hit The ARC Weekly Top 40 and hundreds that have just
missed the Top 40.
Now,
we've decided to take over 30 years of The ARC Weekly Top 40 data and combine it with songs
that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since 1955. We applied the
same methodology and statistics we use for The ARC Weekly Top 40 to the songs that charted on
the Billboard
Hot 100 chart
previous to 1980. The Billboard Hot 100 chart came into existence on August
4, 1958, and chart information for years prior to the
Hot 100 was obtained from the Billboard 'Top 100
Sides' chart and 'Best Sellers in Stores' chart. The
breakdown is as follows:
January
1, 1955 to June 18, 1955: Billboard Best
Sellers In Stores Top 30
June
25, 1955 to November 5, 1955: Billboard Best
Sellers In Stores Top 25
November
12, 1955 to July 28, 1958: Billboard Top 100
August
4, 1958 to December 29, 1979: Billboard Hot
100
January
5, 1980 to present: The ARC Weekly Top 40
The
result is what we feel is a comprehensive look at the
biggest charting pop songs of all time - The
Top Pop Songs of All Time.
We've
gone over the charting history of pop songs for the
past 50 years to make sure we are as accurate as
possible before we released the list. Many songs have
charted twice (or more) and we wanted to make sure
that combined data was finalized before posting the
list.
As The
Top Pop Songs of All Time continues to grow we noticed
several factors that will likely lead to questions -
so we'll try to answer them ahead of time:
The
listing is based on the song's popularity at
the time of its chart run and release year.
In other words, even though a song may still
be very popular today, the chart listing
results reflect how it charted during its
initial release.
There
have been trends over the years when songs
stayed in the Top 40 longer than other years.
You will notice that there are many years
that aren't represented on the listing or
appear lower down the chart. Songs charting
during these years made quick rises to their
peak positions, and quick declines.
Speaking
of longevity - there are songs that had many
weeks at #1 but are lower than songs that
didn't hit the top spot - again this is due
to stronger chart presence over time and
gaining more points with each week.
There
are also many instances of songs that have
more weeks at #1 and more weeks on the chart,
but are still lower than songs with less
impressive chart peaks and weeks on chart.
This may be due to point totals gained prior
to hitting the Top 40 and/or more impressive
points gained during certain weeks than
others.
Our
point system for The ARC Weekly
Top 40 isn't solely based on the chart
position of a song for each week it charts.
Songs also receive points for their
popularity for that week which also impacts
final totals - just because a song hits #1
doesn't mean the points for that week is
larger than a song that is at #2 or #3
another week.
Yes, it's
confusing - but 30 years of chart creation has
resulted in a charting methodology we feel is very
effective and accurate. We have also received
hundreds of positive comments about The ARC Weekly Top 40 and the year-end top charts.
The Top Pop Songs of All Time will be an expanding and fluid
listing. This means that we will continue to add to
the listing as time goes on and add current songs as
their chart run ends.
We hope
you enjoy The Top Pop Songs of All Time as much as we do.
So.... on
with The Top Pop Songs of All Time....
