Editing Billboard charts (section)

===Chart compilation methodology===
{{More citations needed|1=section|date=January 2025}}
For many years, a song had to be commercially available as a single to be considered for any of the ''Billboard'' charts. At the time, instead of using [[Luminate (company)|Luminate]] (formerly [[Nielsen SoundScan]] or [[Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems]], BDS), ''Billboard'' obtained its data from manual reports filled out by radio stations and stores. For different musical genres, which stations and stores are used separates the charts; each musical genre has a core audience or retail group. Each genre's department at ''Billboard'' is headed up by a chart manager, who makes these determinations.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} According to the 100th-anniversary issue of ''Billboard'', prior to the official implementation of SoundScan tracking in November 1991, many radio stations and retail stores removed songs from their manual reports after the associated record labels stopped promoting a particular single. Thus, songs fell quickly after peaking and had shorter chart lives.  In 1990, the [[Country music|country]] singles chart was the first chart to use SoundScan and BDS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com/2018/10/19/hot-country-singles-the-first-chart-to-incorporate-modern-bds-tracking/|title = Hot Country Singles: The First Chart to Incorporate Modern BDS Tracking|date = October 19, 2018}}</ref> They were followed by the Hot 100 and the [[R&B]] chart in 1991.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Trust |first1=Gary |title=Billboard Hot 100 Celebrates 20 Years of Nielsen Data |url= https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-hot-100-celebrates-20-years-of-nielsen-data/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=December 26, 2021 |date=November 30, 2011}}</ref> Today, all of the ''Billboard'' charts use this technology.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Before September 1995, singles were allowed to chart in the week they first went on sale based on airplay points alone. The policy was changed in September 1995, to only allow a single to debut after a full week of sales on combined sales and airplay points. This allowed several tracks to debut at number one.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In December 1998, the policy was further modified to allow tracks to chart on the basis of airplay alone without a commercial release.  This change was made to reflect the changing realities of the music business. Previous to this, several substantial radio and MTV hits had not appeared on the ''Billboard'' chart at all, because many [[Record label|major labels]] chose not to release them as standalone singles, hoping their unavailability would spur greater [[album sales]]. Not offering a popular song to the public as a single was unheard of before the 1970s. The genres that suffered most at the time were those that increasingly impacted [[popular culture|pop culture]], including new genres such as [[trip hop]] and [[grunge]]. Among the many pre-1999 songs that had ended up in this Hot 100 limbo were [[The Cardigans]]' "[[Lovefool]]", [[Natalie Imbruglia]]'s "[[Torn (Natalie Imbruglia song)|Torn]]" (which peaked at 42), [[Goo Goo Dolls]]' "[[Iris (Goo Goo Dolls song)|Iris]]" (which hit number 9), [[OMC (band)|OMC]]'s "[[How Bizarre (song)|How Bizarre]]", [[Sugar Ray]]'s "[[Fly (Sugar Ray song)|Fly]]", and [[No Doubt]]'s "[[Don't Speak]]".{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

On June 25, 2015, ''Billboard'' made changes in its chart requirements. The official street date for all new album releases was moved from Tuesday to Friday in the United States.  For all sales-based charts (ranking both albums and tracks), ''Billboard'' and Nielsen changed the chart reporting period to cover the first seven days of an album's release. As a result of the changes, The ''Billboard'' 200, top albums sales, genre-based albums, digital songs, genre-based downloads, streaming songs, and genre-focused streaming surveys ran on a Friday-to-Thursday cycle.  Radio Songs, which informs the Hot 100, synced to the Monday-to-Sunday period after formerly covering Wednesday to Tuesday. All other radio charts and genre tallies followed the Monday-to-Sunday cycle. The move was made to coincide with the [[IFPI|IFPI's]] move to have all singles and albums released globally on Fridays.<ref name=" chart week">[https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-alter-chart-tracking-week-global-release-date/ "Billboard to Alter Chart Tracking Week for Global Release Date"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720083618/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6605842/billboard-alter-chart-tracking-week-global-release-date |date=July 20, 2015 }} from Billboard (June 24, 2015)</ref>