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Source Song Charts

The "Chart Entries" listing for each song documents which charts it appeared in. So for example an entry of "US BB 1 - Oct 1965, US CashBox 68 of 1965, Germany 373 of the 1960s, Belgium 53 of all time, RYM 11 of 1965, RIAA 56, Scrobulate 39 of classic rock" would indicate that the song:

Was number one in the US Billboard charts, entering the chart in Oct 1965
Was number 68 in the US CashBox chart of the year 1965
Was the 373rd song in Germany for the decade of the 1960s
Was the 53rd best selling song of all time in Belgium
Was number 11 in the "RateYourMusic" chart for 1965
Was 56 in the Record Industry Association of America's all time list
Was number 39 in the "classic rock" tag at Scrobulate

The way that a total score for each song is derived from the chart entries is described on the introduction page. This is result set was created 10 May 2008 06:25 GMT and is version 1.3.0069. The 57 source charts that contributed to the song positions were:

Name	Period Covered	Max Pos	Num Entries	Region	Type	Description
UK	1952 - 2006	40	17136	UK	position each week	The UK singles charts
US BB	1954 - 2000	100	12580	US	position each week	Billboard top songs (based on radio play)
US 1940s	1940 - 1954	50	1300	US	position each week	Positions from the occasional Billboard charts that predate the top 100
Holland	1965 - 2005	40	11558	Holland	position each week	Weekly top 40 in Holland
Canada	1957 - 1986	50	7097	Canada	position each week	The Canadian weekly top 50 from Toronto radio station CHUM
Sweden Alt	1975 - 1986	40	996	Sweden	position each week	Top 40 charts from swedishcharts.com/archiv.asp
Sweden	1984 - 2006	20	4087	Sweden	position each week	Swedish top 20 charts (with many summer months missing) from www.sr.se/p3/topplistor/tracks/
Switzerland	1968 - 2005	40	5311	Switzerland	position each week	Top 40 charts from swisscharts.com/archiv.asp
Norway	1958 - 2005	40	3521	Norway	position each week	Top 40 charts from norwegiancharts.com/archiv.asp
Poland	1984 - 2006	50	6466	Poland	position each week	Weekly charts for Poland from http://www.polskieradio.pl/
France	1970 - 2006	10	9421	France	position each month	Weekly top 10 in France from 1970. Source - charly1300.site.voila.fr/2006.htm
Austria	1973 - 2005	40	4475	Austria	position each month	Top 40 charts from austriancharts.at/archiv.asp
Germany	1960 - 2006	35	5450	Germany	position each month	German top 35 charts
US Cashbox	1956 - 1995	100	3306	US	position in year	Top 100 of each year in 'Cashbox Magazine' chart
US Cashbox Sup	1950 - 1956	50	2190	US	position each week	Cashbox weekly chart entries before the annual chart was published
US Record World	1964 - 1982	40	4721	US	position each week	Position in the "Record World" magazine
US BB Year	1920 - 2004	50	2617	US	position in year	Billboard top songs of the year
Australia GoSet	1966 - 1974	60	1829	Australia	position each week	From the Australian magazine GoSet (source www.poparchives.com.au/)
Australia Year	1958 - 2005	50	1520	Australia	position in year	The Australian bestselling songs of each year from 1958-2005
Italy	1947 - 2006	100	5695	Italy	position in year	From www.hitparadeitalia.it/
South Africa	1958 - 1989	20	640	South Africa	position in year	From www.rock.co.za/
Germany Decade	1960s - 2000s	400	2107	Germany	position in decade	The best selling songs of each decade in Germany
Europe Decade	1930s - 2000s	100	804	Europe	position in decade	The European top 100 for decades from 1930 to 2005 (focus is on Holland)
Eire	1962 - 2005	1	859	Eire	number 1 records	Number one selling records in Ireland from Wikipedia
New Zealand	1966 - 2006	1	455	New Zealand	number 1 records	Number one selling records in New Zealand from Wikipedia
Australia	1956 - 2005	1	778	Australia	number 1 records	Australian Number One Hit Singles in chronological order 1956 to 2006 from www.onmc.iinet.net.au/trivia/aus_list.ht m
US Number 1	1940 - 1954	1	147	US	number 1 records	List of number 1s in the US before the Billboard Top100 was created in 1955. As reported in Wikipedia
Belgium	up to 2005	277	277	Belgium	position in all time	Compiled from the most requested songs of the year for 1987-2005 listed on tijdloze.stijnshome.be
Poland All Time	1964 - 2005	100	100	Poland	position in all time	The most requested songs on Polish radio (from http://www.polskieradio.pl/trojka/lp3/archiwum_top.aspx)
Japan	1968 - 2006	30	30	Japan	position in all time	The best selling international songs in Japan
Peel	1900 - 1999	6	416	UK	critic's pick	Best songs of the century selected by John Peel
Rolling Stone	up to 2000	500	500	US	critic's pick	Top 500 songs listed in 'Rolling Stone' 2004
Acclaimed	1902 - 2002	2500	2500	US	critic's pick	Top 2500 songs selected by unknown person in US
RYM	1920 - 2006	200	14307	internet	social network	Songs with the highest rating on rateyourmusic.com/ (from Feb 2007)
DDD Year	1950 - 1973	110	2641	internet	social network	Songs of the year from DigitalDreamDoor.com
POP Year	1920 - 2006	83	4005	internet	social network	Songs of the year from www.popculturemadness.com/
Scrobulate	up to 2005	100	8775	internet	social network	The top 100 songs in the most active tags on Scrobulate by 2005
Oscar	1934 - 2006	-	72	US	voted for	Winner of the Oscar for best original song
AFI	1900 - 2004	100	100	US	voted for	The 100 most important songs from American films (from the AFI)
Grammy	1958 - 2007	-	49	US	voted for	Winner of the Grammy for best song
RIAA	up to 2000	365	365	US	voted for	RIAA asked 200 US politicians for the "most important songs"
2FM	up to 2000	100	100	UK	voted for	Top 100 songs of all time voted by 2FM radio listeners in UK
TOTP	up to 2000	40	40	UK	voted for	Top 40 songs selected by Top of the Pops viewers in UK
Virgin	up to 2000	100	100	UK	voted for	Top 100 songs selected by Virgin Radio listeners in UK
WXPN	up to 2004	885	885	internet	social network	Songs requested on WXPN 88.5 satellite radio
KROQ	1980 - 1990	106	1163	US	voted for	Top 106 songs of each year voted by listeners of KROQ in California (listed on earlhoward.com/kroq.htm)
Global	up to 2006	33	108	world	single sales	Claims of the total worldwide sales for single reported on Wikipedia
TheQ	up to 2005	500	500	Canada	voted for	The top 500 songs published as The Q!'s Thanksgiving 500 (source www.theq.fm/?q=countdowns). Based on 15,673 votes
Party	up to 2006	300	500	US	critic's pick	Requested songs at US parties (from web site)

Song Entries Chart

The chart above shows how the 169,713 entries in the input charts is distributed over the years. The profiles of each of the 57 song charts is shown below.

2FM

The top 100 songs of all time as voted for by radio 2FM's listeners.

Acclaimed

The top 2500 songs selected by an unknown person in the US. Listed on www.acclaimedmusic.net/. The site claims to have combined lists from other locations but neither documents which lists are the source nor explains the method of combination. The result appears to be a rather eclectic ordering that emphasises acts that were big (or "trendy") in the US recently.

American Film Institute

The 100 most important songs from American films as selected by the AFI. As with all trade associations the chart emphasis is on promoting the product (in this case old US films).

Austria

Top 40 charts from austriancharts.at/archiv.asp

Australia GoSet

Australian weekly charts as published in the Melbourne based magazine GoSet reported on the site www.poparchives.com.au/

Australia Number 1s

Australian Number One Hit Singles in chronological order 1956 to 2005 from www.onmc.iinet.net.au/trivia/aus_list.ht m. These entries do not have associated years so they have been deduced, as a result some of the dates may be off by a month or two.

Australia OzNet

At the end of each year Australian radio stations broadcast their "Best Songs Of All Time" countdowns based on requests from their listeners. This is compiled from the lists on five Australian MOR radio stations. Source is www.onmc.iinet.net.au/trivia/top_1000_so ngs.htm

Australia Year

The Australian bestselling songs of each year from 1958-2005

Belgium

The most requested songs of the year for 1987-2005 listed on tijdloze.stijnshome.be/

Canada

The Canadian weekly top 50 from Toronto radio station CHUM (www.1050chum.com/)

DDD Year

Songs of the year as listed on digitaldreamdoor.com/ This site provides some fun lists like "100 Greatest Beach Music Songs" and is well worth checking out.

Eire

Number one selling records in Ireland as quoted on Wikipedia with the gap filled in. (source www.irishcharts.ie/)

Europe Decade

The European top 100 for each decade from 1930 to 2005 (focus is on Holland and Germany). The listing does not include the claimed year of release, that has been deduced from other charts and hence some of the "hits of the 1930s" seem to have been released in the 1920s.

France

Weekly top 10 songs in France from 1970 to present. Source is at charly1300.site.voila.fr/2006.htm. It has been claimed that other sites such as contain more objective charts (e.g. based on radio airplay), however the nominated sites are only in French, one of them (infodisc.fr/) demands a credit card number to access and the other (lescharts.com/) only starts in 1984 so I have ignored them.

If someone (with a better grasp of French and/or a less paranoid attitude to providing credit card details) sends me a summary in CSV format I will look at it.

Germany

The German top 35 charts (source was ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~topsi/de u1960/, I think)

Germany Decade

The best selling songs of each decade in Germany. Covers the 1960s onwards.

Global

The claimed sales for a number of singles as reported in Wikipedia. Such lists are usually inaccurate and this one is certainly incomplete.

Japan

The best selling international songs in Japan. This short list does not include Japanese language songs.

KROQ 106.7

At the end of every year of the 1980s the listeners of KROQ in California voted for 106 songs to be played. As listed on earlhoward.com/kroq.htm

New Zealand

The number one records in New Zealand listed on Wikipedia. (source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one _singles_in_New_Zealand)

Anyone have the missing entries or a more extensive listing of New Zealand hits?

Norway

Top 40 charts from Norway norwegiancharts.com/archiv.asp

Oscar

The winner of the Oscar for best original song from a film for each year from 1934 to the present. The year listed for the Oscar is the year of the song, the award ceremony is in the following year. (source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_ Best_Original_Song)

Party

The most requested songs at organised parties in the US. The year that the song was in this list does not count towards estimating the year of the song.

Peel

The best songs of the century as selected by John Peel (AKA the Peelenium)

Poland

Weekly charts for Poland from www.polskieradio.pl/. The period covered starts in 1984

Poland All Time

The most requested songs on Polish radio (from www.polskieradio.pl/trojka/lp3/archiwum_ top.aspx). This has been added to supplement the Polish weekly chart with some music from prior to 1984

POP Year

Songs of the year from www.popculturemadness.com/Music/ a site that includes all sorts of fun lists (like "Politically Incorrect Songs") and is worth a visit.

Record Industry Association of America

The RIAA asked 200 various prominent people in the US for their "most important songs" and compiled this list of the results. The list reflects the type of songs selected by politicians in the US. (source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Centu ry)

Rolling Stone

The top 500 songs of all time listed in the magazine 'Rolling Stone' in 2004 (source www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500 songs).

RYM

The site rateyourmusic.com/ gives users the chance to rate different songs and albums. The ratings are not objective (and they shouldn't be) but the large volume of contributors makes this worthwhile (at least for modern music). These charts were extracted during Feb 2007.

Scrobulate

The site www.last.fm/ keeps track of songs being played on computers (and some MP3 players), this list contains the top 100 songs in the most active tags on Scrobulate in 2005. Unfortunately the list is distorted by the contributors in order to promote certain bands, the most obvious offenders have been removed.

Notice the focus on recent music.

Top 100 songs of each year in 'Cashbox Magazine' year end chart (source members.aol.com/_ht_a/randypny/cashbox/). The original Cash Box magazine was a weekly coin-machine and music-industry publication from July 1942 through its last issue dated November 16, 1996. From the late '40s through the early '60s, Cash Box published both Juke Box and Best Sellers singles charts. This chart concentrates exclusively on the latter, since they were more extensive and were the forerunners of the Cash Box Top 100.