Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals. Mediabase charts and airplay data are used on many popular radio countdown shows and televised music awards programs. Music charts are published in both domestic and international trade publications and newspapers worldwide. Mediabase is a division of iHeartMedia.

History

Mediabase was founded in 1985 by Nancy and Rich Deitemeyer (a.k.a. Rich Meyer). Originally known as Mediascan, the company changed its name to Mediabase in 1987. Mediabase became the industry's first mass-airplay monitoring company in late 1987. After its inception, Mediabase was purchased by a private equity group based in

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, then acquired by

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-based

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, Clear Channel Communications, and ultimately, Bain Capital. In January 1988, Mediabase began publishing a trade magazine known as ''Monday Morning Replay'', featuring monitored airplay in the top 35 US radio markets. Mediabase then expanded its coverage to 180 US and Canadian markets. In 1992, Mediabase transitioned to delivery by data disk. In 1997, Mediabase moved its product to the Internet. Over the years, Mediabase has supplied data to numerous trade business-to-business (B-to-B) publications including Radio & Records, Network Magazine Group, Gavin, Hits, and Friday Morning Quarterback. Mediabase charts appear every Friday (originally every Tuesday until during the 3rd quarter of 2015) in

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

's LIFE section. Mediabase serves as the official music chart provider for USA Today, the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

, and numerous syndicated programs, such as '' American Top 40'' with Ryan Seacrest.

Charts and data

Mediabase produces song charts and airplay analyses of radio airplay in more than two dozen radio formats based on the monitoring of more than 1,800 radio stations in the US and Canada. Mediabase also monitors HD formats, video channels, and satellite radio. Published charts are used on popular business-to-business (B-to-B) and consumer websites including AllAccess, Friday Morning Quarterback, Country Aircheck, and

Hits Daily Double ''Hits'' is an American music industry trade publication. Founded by Lenny Beer and Dennis Lavinthal, who had previously worked in independent promotion, it was launched as a print magazine in August 1986. By 1997, it had become the most successf ...

. Music and entertainment industry executives gain access to in-depth charts and analyses through B-to-B exclusive access. Mediabase owns and operates Rate the Music, a service that allows consumers to rate music on a scale from 1 to 5 and whether or not they are tired of hearing the song on the radio for the radio and record industries. As of November 2022, Billboard started using Mediabase to make calculations for the Radio Songs chart, which is one of the components that is used to determine chart positions in the Hot 100 charts in the United States and Canada.

Use in radio programming

Countdown

Mediabase charts are the source for the following radio countdown programs: * American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest (Top 40 and Hot AC shows). *

Bob Kingsley Robert Gibson Kingsley (March 19, 1939 – October 17, 2019) was an American country music radio personality and a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was best known as the host of two nationally syndicated radio programs: ''American Cou ...

Country Top 40 ''Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 with Fitz'' (sometimes abbreviated as CT40) is an American country music radio countdown show created by former ''American Country Countdown'' host Bob Kingsley, who hosted the show from its January 2006 debut unti ...

Country Countdown USA ''Country Countdown USA'' is a nationally syndicated weekly country music top-30 chart countdown program hosted by Lon Helton. Debut The show premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System in April 1992. The program began as the brainchild of We ...

with Lon Helton *

American Country Countdown ''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 40 country songs of the previous week, from No. 40 to No. 1, according to the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay ch ...

with

Kix Brooks Leon Eric Brooks III, better known by his stage name Kix Brooks (born May 12, 1955), is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's ''American Country Co ...

(from 2009-2017) * Crook & Chase Country Countdown *

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a me ...

Active Rock and Alternative Radio Countdowns *

SiriusXM Hits 1 ''Sirius XM Hits 1'' is a Top 40 radio station on Sirius XM Radio channel 2 and Dish Network channels 6002 and 099-02 (099-02 is only for Hopper users). Like most Sirius XM stations, it plays no commercials. The channel was formerly known as US-1 ...

Weekend Countdown * Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler

Other

Mediabase is the primary programming tool for nationally syndicated programs like Open House Party, After Midnite, and Nighttime with Delilah.

Detailed description of data

US Radio

Formats monitored

* Mainstream adult contemporary * Hot adult contemporary * Mainstream top 40 * Rhythmic top 40 * Urban top 40 * Urban adult contemporary * Country *

Alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

* Active rock *

Mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

* Adult alternative * Rhythmic adult contemporary * Adult hits * Dance *

Classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

Smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

* Christian top 40 * Christian adult contemporary * Classic hits *

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

* Regional Mexican * Spanish contemporary * Tropical * Christmas (seasonal)

Canadian radio

* Top 40 * Hot Adult Contemporary *

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

* Country * Active Rock * Alternative

References

External links

*
USA Today
— weekly charts by format
America's Music Charts
— weekly charts
AllAccess.com
— radio and music industry online community {{iHeartMedia Audience measurement Market research companies of the United States American music websites American record charts American companies established in 1985 IHeartMedia Companies based in San Antonio