What makes a number one single?   Do you think that it's your friends?  Or when you buy a CD or request songs?  Did you ever wonder how some songs even make the charts?  Well if you think it is because of the people who buy, vote or request the song is the reason why the CD or the song made it to the Billboard Charts you were wrong.
 According to The Wall Street Journal even disk jockeys, who introduced new music regularly, and used to play what the people requested and play what they wanted to, now they have to get orders from the companies that own the station of what to play on air.  The reason for this action is that these parent companies believe that the disk jockey will continually change the play list and that will turn off the listeners.

         In the book Confessions of a Record Producer by Moses Avalon, he explains what really occurs in the music industry.  He states in his book that when it is time to pick a single it is a very hard decision and may cause tension between the artist and the Record companies.  He says that artists prefer to choose a song and let the public first judge for themselves.  However, more likely the case is that the Record company will market the single that the Record company chooses and not the artist.
 
         How does a single reach the charts?  You would think that since the song has been on the Billboard Charts, it has made a hit single, but that is not true.  According to Moses Avalon's book, the Billboard is not even accurate.  The Billboard will call the record stores and talk to the shipping clerk or manager and ask what is selling best and then put it on their charts.  One incident that Avalon stated in his book was of an artist who had an album and it was number one on the Billboard Charts.  The album sold over two million copies to retail stores and later had to ship back many of those records to the record company.  Billboard does not keep a track of CD's returned or the number not sold.
 
        Now they have a different system to know which record is selling most and it is called sound scan.  It is software that can read the bar coding on the back of the record/CD/tape to keep track of which one is being bought most.

        Airplay is another issue discussed.  Airplay is not based on what people request like on BET or MTV.  No, these videos you watch on these stations, are like advertisements.  The record company has to pay large fees to put their song(s) on the air, although the media may have to pay a very small amount to the songwriter per play of their video, which is the law.  Moses Avalon said, "They would pay the songwriter a royalty of several cents per play."  And Avalon mentions other ways of paying for  airplay's.  This is called Payola.  This is when the record company bribes the media by paying extra money to play their song or video on the radio or T.V. more frequently then the others or even in a specific order.

         This explains how a single that may sound like "crap" makes it to be on the charts played on radio or even on television.  This whole situation about the music world is not easy.  And for a song to make it, there are a lot of "tricks and trades" that have to occur to have success.  Moses Avalon said in his book "It is like the tail is wagging the dog, and in the music industry things tend to work cockeyed."

        To look at the latest charts here is a link to The Billboard Charts.