Casey's Top 100 of 1995

[jedijake]

I was hoping someone could help me out with this question.

In the top 100 of 1995 according to Casey's Top 40, the #97 song was "Close To You" by Fun Factory.

Researching this song, I noticed it only hit #46 on the Radio and Records chart. Can someone tell me if this is accurate or was this incorrect?

Thank you!

[freakyflybry]

As far as I'm aware, it was accurate. There weren't as many songs making the top 40 in 1995 than in other years, so it gave the chance for a song that didn't make the top 40 to make it in.

It probably was played a lot by the stations that did play it, even if there weren't many... enough to keep it below the top 50 for long enough to accumulate the required amount of spins.

[shadster]

Danm. It didnt even chart? That surprises the hell outta me. That was RIGHT at the the time I lost access to ALL countdown shows. The last top40 station went under in Jan '95. I didnt get to hear another top40 show till I went to Atlanta in June, an subsequently started recording shows from a distant city in July. Had to drive 100 miles to pick it up. I've scanned my Top40 charts archive but I dont have any charts from early 95. The song is awesome though and i remember it quite well being played on top40 stations in other parts of the state. no station in DC ever played it but there was no top40 station in dc from '92 -'96. I have several different versions of the song. I did look up Fun Factorys other hit, "I wanna be w/ you" peaked at #21.

[Hervard]

The fact that so many songs that peaked low on the chart but still made the countdown had a lot to do with the lack of a recurrent rule back then. For instance, "Dream About You" by Stevie B only peaked at #36 and made the chart. If there had been a recurrent rule, the song would most likely have peaked in the Top 30 and spent more than five weeks in the Top 40.

"Close To You" by the Fun Factory was very baffling. If they had implemented the recurrent rule by then, it might have made the Top 40, but just barely. By the way, that song only spent three or four weeks on the R&R Top 50 chart, but that might be partially because of the fact that the chart only went down to 40 until May 12, which was the week that it expanded to 50, and also the week that "Close To You" debuted on the chart, at #46 I believe. So it very well might have been bubbling under the Top 40 for the weeks that the chart only contained 40 songs. It didn't appear in New & Active during those weeks, but that doesn't really mean much because a song has to be on a certain amount of stations in order to be included in New & Active. If only a handful of stations were playing it, then it could have had enough points to come close to the Top 40, but New & Active wouldn't have listed it because it didn't have enough stations to be eligible for listing.

Again, 1995 didn't have as many songs charting because there was no recurrent rule. That was implemented in the summer of 1996 and, hence, songs started peaking higher.

1994 didn't have a recurrent rule either, but songs were still mysteriously disappearing from suspiciously high positions (so there might have been one, but it was just not in print). Plus, the chart was compiled the old-fashioned way for four weeks out of the year (and thus, moved a tad faster than it did when the PPW era started), so that's why there were no songs peaking outside the Top 30 making Casey's Top 100 of 1994 (the lowest peak was #27, shared by "Beautiful In My Eyes" by Joshua Kadison and "I'll Be Loving You" by Collage).

[tacomalo]

As a novice to the inside world of how songs chart, could you tell me what the "recurrent rule" is?

[freakyflybry]

tacomalo said:

As a novice to the inside world of how songs chart, could you tell me what the "recurrent rule" is?

Basically, the way it is now on the Mediabase top 40 chart (and has been since June 1999 or so), any songs that have been on the chart for 20 weeks or more and are below #20 are removed from the chart. There have been several variations, such as from 1996-99, when it was 26 weeks or more and below #25.

[Hervard]

freakyflybry said:

tacomalo said:

As a novice to the inside world of how songs chart, could you tell me what the "recurrent rule" is?

Basically, the way it is now on the Mediabase top 40 chart (and has been since June 1999 or so), any songs that have been on the chart for 20 weeks or more and are below #20 are removed from the chart.

Technically, it has been that way since November, 2001. From August of that year through November, they had a crazy rule where a song could only be down in plays for three consecutive weeks and then it would disappear once it dropped below #25. While this helped a few songs (i.e. "Drive" by Incubus would have fallen clean off the charts from #14 had the 20/20 rule still been in place), this was also unfair to other songs. So it came as no surprise to anyone that this rule was scrapped within three months and went back to the 20/20 rule, which it had been from June, 1999 to August 10.
Back in 1994, they had some unwritten recurrent rule, but I have no idea what it was. But I find it very unlikely that songs like "Come To My Window" by Melissa Etheridge would be riding around the mid-point of the charts for months and months and suddenly disappear from #19 just like that. So there must have been some kind of rule in place but only the staff of R&R were allowed to know about it.