Billboard charts
Billboard charts track how popular songs and albums are in the United States and around the world. The main charts are the Billboard Global 200 (global song popularity), the Billboard Hot 100 (US song popularity), and the Billboard 200 (US album popularity). There are many other charts that focus on specific genres like R&B, country, or rock, or cover all genres.
Songs and albums are ranked using different data sources. The main song charts use sales, streams, and airplay from radio. The Hot 100 combines singles sales, radio airplay, digital downloads, and streaming (including YouTube). The Global 200 uses similar data but covers the world. The Billboard 200 albums chart uses album sales plus streams and track sales.
Charts run on weekly cycles. Since July 2015, most sales and streaming data are measured from Friday to Thursday. Radio airplay charts follow a separate Monday-to-Sunday cycle. Billboard releases new charts each Tuesday, with the date reflecting the following Saturday.
Billboard’s history goes back to 1913 with sheet music charts. Over the years, the charts added radio play, record sales, and airplay data. The Hot 100 began in 1958 as the first unified chart of popular songs. The way charts are calculated has changed many times, especially with the rise of digital downloads and streaming.
Key milestones include the adoption of SoundScan data in 1991, which improved tracking of sales, and subsequent updates that added digital downloads (2005) and then streaming (2007 for the Hot 100). In 2012, many genre charts started using a mix of sales and streaming alongside airplay. YouTube streaming data was added in 2013 to reflect online video listening.
Billboard also runs other charts and features pages for social activity (Social 50, 2010), new artists (Uncharted, 2011), and artist-focused charts (Artist 100, 2014). In 2019, Billboard introduced Top Songwriters and Top Producers charts, with further genre-focused and trend-based charts like Hot Trending Songs (launched in 2021).
Every year Billboard compiles year-end charts from its many lists, highlighting the top songs and albums of the year.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:15 (CET).