Broken Chart

[Channel98]

Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas will remain at number one on the August 8 Billboard Hot 100. That will be its 16th week at number one, tying it with Morgan Wallen's Last Night, Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men's One Sweet Day and Luis Fonsi/Daddy Yankee/.Justin Bieber's Despacito for fourth-most weeks at number one.

Shaboozey's A Bar Song (Tipsy) and Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus's Old Town Road were each number one for 19 weeks – and a certain Christmas song has spent 22 weeks at number one. Twenty-two weeks.....and counting.

 

[Channel98]

The Billboard Hot 100 is based on sales, radio airplay and streaming. As I noted on July 26 – Go look! – in January 2026, Billboard began giving greater weight to "paid/subscription on-demand streams." As it turns out, Billboard was right. More people now listen to music via streams than via radio.

Streaming Music Now Has Highest Daily Music Reach - SSRS

Countless editions of this newsletter have illustrated the power of music in reaching audiences daily. Eighty-seven percent of Americans 13+ engage with music listening in some form daily. Share of Ear® from Edison Research at SSRS, shows which music platforms have the highest daily reach, and...

ssrs.com

 

[scotchandcigar]

Without reading the article, can you tell me where SiriusXM falls? Is it radio, or streaming, or both?

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I stream my FM radio station over Alexa. Is that streaming (not that they play any of the songs on the Billboard charts unless "Stranger Things" played a song).

 

[scotchandcigar]

I stream my FM radio station over Alexa.

That's true. I can stream both of my favorite local radio stations: WXRV The River 92.5, and 88.9 WERS Emerson College radio. Not sure how that's categorized.

 

[Channel98]

Mister scotch, that article makes no reference to SiriusXM – but it is both a satellite radio broadcaster and a streaming service. Subscribers can get streaming-only plans so they can listen via the SiriusXM app on phones, computers, smart speakers, smart TVs and streaming media players (such as Roku and Apple TV) without needing a satellite radio receiver in their car or home.

 

[sadchild]

I don't have a problem with the Hot 100 counting streaming, it just should be when someone chooses to stream something (that's like me putting a record on my record player back in 1985). It just should only count streaming when it's done like radio. Then it would be the same chart.

 

[Channel98]

I know, I know, you're all wondering what was the first hit song with "Stream" in the title. Down By The Old Mill Stream (Columbia 1047) by the Brunswick Quartette – tenors Arthur Clough and Aubrey Hackett, baritone Harry Weiting and bass singer A. Duncan Cornwall – was number one for one week in November 1911. Clough also recorded a solo version of the song (Edison Amberol 796). The quartet, which took its name from Brunswick, Germany ("Braunschweig" in German), released eight singles in 1910-11 and this was their only hit. A version by Harry MacDonough, a Canadian tenor born John MacDonald, was number one for seven weeks in early 1912.