Pop Music Chart Day

Some people might think that before defining Pop Music Charts, it’s important to make a definition of Pop Music itself. But it’s also difficult to come up with a working definition of pop music without the pop music charts, because it defies classification into a single genre. While it can be said that there is a “typical” style of pop music in a particular period and country, the songs that top the charts do often defy these boundaries. That being said, pop music songs average about three minutes in length (optimal radio airtime) and are commercially produced. But ultimately it’s all subjective and often includes elements that are borrowed from jazz, dance, urban, rock, funk, country, Latin and other styles of music.

January 4, 1936 brought an important event, which was the publication of Billboard Magazine’s first “Hit Parade”. This listing of top songs included “Stop, Look and Listen” for the #1 spot, recorded by the jazz violinist Joe Venuti and his orchestra.

After that, the first music popularity chart on a grander scale was started in the summer of 1940. By 1958, these songs had been consolidated into the ‘Hot 100’ list that continued on for more than 50 years. While the Hot 100 was originally limited to radio play, it now combines radio play with singles sales, digital downloads and streaming activity.

Pop Music Chart Day’s observance on January 4 is a nod to the original Billboard Magazine’s Hit Parade publication more than 85 years ago. Pop Music Chart Day has been celebrated for years and lifts up that most important of music yardsticks, the Pop Music Chart, into the limelight it should be in. After all, without this innovation, how would everyone know what the best music out there is?