The
Mainstream Top 40
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
-based chart debuted in
''Billboard'' magazine in its issue dated October 3, 1992, with rankings determined by monitored airplay from data compiled by
Broadcast Data Systems
Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
, a then-new technology which can detect when and how often songs are being played on radio stations. The 40-position chart was published in the print edition of ''Billboard'' through May 1995, after which it only appeared in ''Billboard''s sister publication,
Airplay Monitor
''Billboard Radio Monitor'' was a weekly music Trade journal, trade publication that followed the radio industry and tracked the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. The magazine was a spinoff of ''Billboard magazine ...
, and the Billboard.com website, returning to the print edition in 2003. During the 1990s, the chart was called Top 40/Mainstream alongside a second Top 40 Airplay chart,
Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover. The first number-one song on both of these charts was "
End of the Road" by
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...
.
Mainstream Top 40 is compiled from airplay on radio stations which play a wide variety of music, not just "pure pop", which ''Billboard'' defines as "melodic, often synth-driven, uptempo fare".
During the 1990s, mainstream top 40 went from
R&B dominating the airwaves (and thus the charts) in the early 1990s to rock and alternative music becoming the choice of program directors in the latter part of the decade.
The mid-1990s also witnessed a drastic difference between what reached the top of the Mainstream Top 40 chart and the
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
, when songs started being promoted to radio and receiving significant airplay without the release of a commercially available single, a requirement for a song to reach the Hot 100. Thus, number-one songs on the Mainstream Top 40 such as "
I'll Be There for You", "
Fly
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
", "
Don't Speak
"Don't Speak" is a song by American rock band No Doubt from their third studio album, ''Tragic Kingdom'' (1995). It was released as the third single from ''Tragic Kingdom'' in the United States on April 15, 1996, by Interscope Records. Lead sin ...
", "
Lovefool
"Lovefool" is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish Rock music, rock band the Cardigans' third studio album, ''First Band on the Moon'' (1996). It was released as the album's lead single in Sweden in mid-1996 and on 9 Sep ...
", "
Torn
Torn may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Torn'' (2009 film), an American film by Richard Johnson
* ''Torn'' (2013 American film), directed Jeremiah Birnbaum
* ''Torn'' (2013 Nigerian film), directed by Moses Inwang
* ''Torn'' (TV series), a ...
", "
Uninvited", and "
Iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
*Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
Iris or IRIS may also refer to:
Arts and media
Fictional enti ...
" failed to reach or have a similar impact on the Hot 100.
Hot 100 rules changed allowing airplay-only songs to chart in late 1998.
Number-one pop songs of the 1990s
See also
*
1990s in music
Popular music in the 1990s saw the continuation of teen pop and dance-pop trends which had emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, hip hop grew and continued to be highly successful in the decade, with the continuation of the genre' ...
*
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1990s
This article is about the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart held during the 1990s.
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart is the main song chart of the American music industry and is updated every week by the ''Billboard'' magazine. During the 1990 ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart
References
External links
Current Billboard Pop Songs chart Billboard.com.
Billboard Charts Legend Billboard.com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mainstream Top 40 1990s
United States Mainstream Top 40
Lists of number-one songs in the United States
Billboard charts
1990s in American music