Wikipedia:Record charts
| This page documents an English Wikipedia guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Changes made to it should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss your idea on the talk page. |
This guideline provides guidance about the suitability of charts for inclusion in Wikipedia articles, both in article prose and in the standard tables of charts. It does not provide specifics of formatting tables, which is the subject of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Record charts.
Contents |
General guidelines
Suitable charts
A chart is normally considered suitable for inclusion if it meets both of the following characteristics:
- It is published by a recognized reliable source. This includes any IFPI affiliate, Billboard magazine, or any organization with the support of Nielsen SoundScan. Recognized national measurement firms, such as Crowley Broadcast Analysis for Brazil or Monitor Latino for Mexico, are legitimate sources of charts.
- It covers sales or broadcast outlets from multiple sources.
Single-vendor/single-network charts
Charts which rank material from a single vendor or network are generally unsuitable for inclusion in articles. They should never be placed in discography tables or tables of charts. They may occasionally be mentioned in article prose if special circumstances warrant it. "Special circumstances" includes notable controversies alleging chart manipulation, or cases where eligibility requirements prevented standard charts from recognizing the sales. This would include, for example, the noted resurgence of Michael Jackson related sales at the time of his death, when many chart rules prevented any of his album sales from being credited towards a chart position. Similarly, some charts representing the home country of the artist or composer (this can mean country of origin, country of residence, official nationality or any country where the artist or composer has lived for a substantial part of their lives) or releases with a strong link to the country in question (e.g. Eurovision entries), can be included if no other suitable charts can be located.
Dependent ("component") charts
Charts are frequently related to one another mathematically. For example, the Billboard Hot 100 is derived by weighting positions on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and the Billboard Hot 100 Sales charts. This means that in the vast majority of cases, any song that charts on the Billboard Hot 100 can be presumed to have charted on both other charts, and specifically mentioning the position will simply clutter an article. In unusual cases, the subordinate chart can be mentioned: take, for example, a single which had no airplay because of objectionable content, but still charted extremely high on the composite chart due to sales. This would be unusual enough to potentially warrant mention.
Certifications
Certifications should be sourced directly to certifying agencies, most of which provide a searchable database. When such a database is not available, other reliable sources may be used, but they must directly state that the certifying agency has granted the certification. Many popular press articles will contain statements such as "... has gone gold ..." or "... has gone platinum ..." based on a sales figure, when, in fact, the certifying agency has not yet verified those sales and granted a certification.
Chart trajectories
A song/album's chart trajectory should not be included in an article as this constitutes an indiscriminate collection of information. Chart trajectories may be mentioned in the article text when there is sufficient reason to do so (for example, a song debuted at number 100, became a sleeper hit and peaked at number 1). Key facts, some examples being the debut position, number of weeks spent at peak position, and/or number of weeks in total on the chart may be mentioned within the article text, but should not be included as routine data for all charts.
Deprecated charts
- Amazon: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
- ARC Weekly Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Argentina Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Argentina Singles Top 100 from charly1300.com. Per the chart description ...otros factores que cada semana varían y se modifican en el Ranking. Los datos que proporcionamos no son 100% verificables (Other factors that vary from week to week modify the rankings. The data is not 100% verifiable).
- Argentina Top 100 at argentinatop100.com.ar. Anonymous chart, with no explanation of methodology or source. Singles chart appears to be a one-week old copy of the chart from charly1300.com.
- Note: a valid Argentine albums chart exists at capif.org.ar. There are no known valid Argentine singles charts.
- Australia Country Tracks Top 30: This chart has been determined as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology; see Talk:2009 in country music.
- Note: The Australian Country Albums chart is published by ARIA and therefore acceptable for use. Australia does not seem to have a valid country singles chart.
- The Big Top 40 Show Chart primarily based on iTunes data.
- Brazil Hot 100/Hot100Brasil: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Note: see WP:GOODCHARTS for a discussion of the Hot 100 Airplay chart from Billboard Brasil which, if properly sourced, is acceptable.
- Brazilian Singles Chart from allcharts.org is a mirror of Brazil Hot 100's "Hot 100 Songs and Tracks".
- Bulgarian National Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Note: the chart at αCharts.us is a mirror of the Bulgarian National Top 40.
- Note: A legitimate Bulgarian chart is located at http://www.bamp-bg.org/en/2009-07-08-09-48-53/nmc-charts/169-week41-0510-11102009.html
- Canadian Radio & Records/Nielsen Country Singles: Although published by Nielsen, this chart does not appear to have any sort of archive to verify positions from week to week. See discussion at Talk:2010 in country music, as well as Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of number-one country hits of 2010 (Canada).
- Canadian Country Albums published by Jam!/Canoe. Same as above; chart positions are not archived and therefore impossible to verify. This is not to be confused with the RPM charts (1964–2000), which are acceptable.
- Chile Hot 100: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Chilean Singles Chart from Americatop100.com. This chart was Deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Colombia Top 100 from Americatop100.com. This charts was Deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Croatian Singles Chart at ehot50.blog.hr : blog sourced chart.
- Croatian Singles Chart at www.soundguardian.com. No apparent notability. Validation of this chart compared to the airplay charts it claims to aggregate does not validate the chart.
- Cyprus Super Radio Chart This chart is a radio chart and it has not got an official status.
- Euro 200/APC-stats: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Note: the following charts are known to be mirrors of these charts:
- Portugal Singles Top 50 at αCharts.us
- Italian Albums Top 50 at αCharts.us
- Italian Singles Top 50 at αCharts.us
- Note: a valid Portuguese albums chart, based on AC Nielsen data, can be found portuguesecharts.com.
- Note: valid Italian albums and singles charts, can be found at www.fimi.it
- Greek Hot 75,Greek Dance, Greek Hype, Greek Pop, Greek Rock, Greek R&B & Latin, Greek Radio1 DJs: These charts from www.radio1.gr are all single network charts.
- Hungary Editor's Choice Top 40 at MAHASZ. The Editors' Choice Top 40 should not be used: this is a critic's list, not a reflection of sales or airplay.
- Italian Singles at αCharts.us: see Euro 200/APC-stats.
- Israeli Singles Chart at www.charts.co.il or http://www.glgltz.co.il/ . These charts are all single network charts, and incorporate user voting.
- iTunes: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
- Latin Areschart: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Latvian Airplay Top, Latvian Singles Chart This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- LCC Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and other Lithuania Charts Company charts: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Lithuanian Airplay Chart: This chart's article were deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Lithuanian Top 40 from music.lt. This chart is based on membership voting, and does not reflect verifiable sales or airplay.
- Los 40 Principales. Single network chart documenting playlist frequency on the same network.
- México Top 100 from Americatop100.com. This chart was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- MYX Hit Chart, MYX Daily Top 10, Pinoy MYX Countdown: These charts were deleted by deletion discussion as non-notable charts with dubious methodology.
- Odyssey Albums Chart: Single vendor charts should not be used.
- Philippines Hot 100: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion (multiple times) as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology. There are no charts for Philippines that are known to be acceptable.
- Polish National Top 50: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Note: a valid Polish albums chart can be found at olis.onyx.pl.
- Portuguese Singles at αCharts.us: see Euro 200/APC-stats.
- Radio Disney: Charts from countdown shows should not be used as they are not derived from verifiable sales and/or airplay totals.
- Russian Airplay Chart from Tophit.ru: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart.
- Serbian Pop Top Lista: "TOP 50 SRBIJA" chart at poptoplista.com. Rankings are apparently combinations of radio airplay in Serbia with votes of Web site visitors.
- Spanish Singles Chart on allcharts.org. This is a mirror of Los 40 Principales, which is listed above.
- Tokio Hot 100 Single network airplay chart.
- Top Latino: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- United World Chart/Global Top 40 Albums: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
- Viacom/MTV Networks Countdowns (VH1 VSpot and CMT Top 20 Countdowns): Both programs formerly used a mix of network airplay and radio popularity with some minor viewer feedback to compile their lists, but now only depend entirely on viewer text messaging and internet voting to compile their lists and encourage multiple votes, along with a limited pool of videos chosen by viewers to fill the list.
- Worf Music Awards: Probably non-existent award, mass-added over the last several months to various artist pages. See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/2007 Worf Music Awards.
- World Albums Top 40/World Singles Top 40: These listings on acharts.us are mirrors of the United World Chart.
Websites to avoid
- americatop100.com – Sourcing for these charts is indeterminate.
- Charly1300.com – Reproduces some data available from Recommended charts. Other available chart information is of unsystematic or uncertain origin.
- Chartblue.com – Indeterminate methodology.
- Madonna-charts.com – Fan site, indeterminate methodology.
- Mariah-charts.com – Fan site, indeterminate methodology.
- slokylie.com – Fan site, indeterminate methodology.
- top40-charts.com – Unclear methodology, unknown sourcing.
- Tsort.info/music/ – In general, reproduces information available directly from sources listed in Recommended charts. Exceptions appear to be sourced from single-station airplay or single-vendor sales figures.
- UKchartsplus.co.uk – In general, reproduces information available directly from sources listed in Recommended charts. Uncertain methodology as to annual figures, which do not match recommended sources.
Recommended charts
The following charts are recommended for use, although some archives of these charts are specifically deprecated. These are charts which are believed to meet all requirements for inclusion, and have reliable, licensed archives of positions which allow for stable and reliable referencing.
Many reliable charts are not included on this list, primarily due to archiving problems. The Romanian Top 100, for example, appears to be a reliable chart, but no stable searchable archive is available. These charts can be included so long as care is taken in providing a reliable source for the information.
| Country | Charts | Archives | Comments | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums | Singles | |||||||||
| Sales | Certifications | Sales | Airplay | Certifications | αCharts.us | Chart-Surfer.de | Top40-Charts.com | Hung Medien | ||
| Argentina | CAPIF | CAPIF (from 2000) | Only the monthly chart is archived, labeled "Ranking Mensual". | |||||||
| Australia | ARIA charts Hung Medien |
ARIA (from 1997) | ARIA charts Hung Medien |
ARIA (from 1997) | An archive of individual charts can be found at http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/23790 . It isn't searchable, but this is the only archive that preserves position 51-100. | |||||
| Austria | oe3.ORF.at Hung Medien |
IFPI (from 1990) | oe3.ORF.at Hung Medien |
IFPI (from 1990) | ||||||
| Belgium (Flanders) |
Ultratop | Ultratop (from 2000) | Ultratop | Ultratop (from 2000) | Dutch- and French-speaking sections of Belgium are charted separately. | |||||
| Belgium (Wallonia) |
Ultratop | Ultratop (from 2000) | Ultratop | Ultratop (from 2000) | ||||||
| Brazil | ABPD | ABPD (from 1990) | See Notes Crowley Broadcast Analysis |
ABPD Download | The album chart is poorly formatted and difficult to navigate. Detailed navigation help is available here. The Hot 100 Airplay and Hot Pop Songs charts from Billboard Brasil magazine are acceptable, but not archived. These charts can be included only by referencing the physical magazine, not the online chart. Crowley Broadcast Analysis charts must be saved using WebCite or another similar service, as the PDFs disappear after 8 weeks. The remaining charts from Billboard Brasil are from individual Brazilian states, and generally should not be used. |
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| Bulgaria | Nielsen | No valid album charts or singles sales charts are known to exist. | ||||||||
| Canada | Nielsen | Music Canada | Nielsen | Nielsen | Music Canada | aCharts.us archives Canadian Hot 100 only. Sales for albums and singles are archived at Billboard. | ||||
| Billboard | ||||||||||
| RPM | RPM | RPM contains information for music from 1964-2000 | ||||||||
| Croatia | HDU | HRTOP20 | ||||||||
| Czech Republic | IFPI | IFPI | ||||||||
| Denmark | IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI (from 2001) IFPI (from 2004) |
IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI | IFPI (from 2007) | Both IFPI and Hung Medien contain archives back to 2001. Prior to 2001 only known archive is from Billboard magazine Hits of the World section. | ||||
| Finland | Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Hung Medien |
IFPI | Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Hung Medien |
IFPI | Search available at ifpi.fi. Click "Albumit - viikko xx/xxxx »" for albums or "Singlet - viikko xx/xxxx »" for singles. There is also a download chart at latauslista.fi, but this should be treated as a component chart: it should be used only when the main chart was not entered. | |||||
| France | SNEP Hung Medien InfoDisc |
SNEP (from 1994) InfoDisc |
SNEP Hung Medien |
SNEP | SNEP (from 1994) InfoDisc |
SNEP charts are found under tab labelled "Les Classements". | ||||
| Germany | Media Control Musicline.de |
IFPI | Media Control Musicline.de |
Nielsen | IFPI | Only the top five appear on the display, but the search facility returns all positions. Replace "Suchbegriff" with search text, and hit "Jetzt suchen". The Hung Medien sites (swisscharts.com, lescharts.com, mexicancharts.com, etc.) have peculiar behavior regarding the German charts. None of them display the German charts to anonymous users. All of them (except germancharts.com!) will show the German charts on the international summary display to registered users. |
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| Greece | IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI | Chart archives starting from Jan 2010 on greekcharts.com.
The IFPI chart only shows the current week, to see previous weeks and years use archive.org. However this has only been sporadically archived but the chart table does include Best Position which may be helpful for any missing weeks. IFPI also list any certifications given under the Awards column. G=gold, P=platinum 2P=2×platinum etc. Again use archive.org to see previous certifications. Webcitation.org also has a number of cached pages going back to January 2010. |
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| Hungary | MAHASZ | MAHASZ (from 2000) | MAHASZ | MAHASZ | Archived at MAHASZ. The Editors' Choice Top 40 should not be used: this is a critic's list, not a reflection of sales or airplay. | |||||
| Ireland | IRMA | IRMA (2005-2008) | IRMA | Archived at Chart Track, IrishCharts.ie, and IRMA. | ||||||
| Italy | FIMI Hung Medien |
FIMI | FIMI Hung Medien |
FIMI | Archived at FIMI. | |||||
| Japan | Oricon Billboard |
Gold/Platinum (from 2003) Million |
Oricon Billboard RIAJ Digital Track Chart |
Billboard |
Gold/Platinum (from 2003) Million |
Detailed navigation help is available due to language difficulties/explanations on what each chart (Oricon/Billboard/RIAJ) are specifically used for, click here. | ||||
| Japan Hot 100 Singles | ||||||||||
| Korea | GAON Chart | GAON Chart | There is a black bar on top represeting the different charts. The first selection: Digital Comprehensive chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). Second: Online chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). Third: Mobile chart (split into ringback tones and ringtones). Fourth: Album chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). The last section is an introduction to the website, which is set up by the Korea Music Content Industry Association, the current music industry association. Please note that "foreign" artists include domestic artists who have released singles in other languages for other markets (for example, a Korean artist releasing a Japanese single). Please also note that the website's design does not allow any direct links to specific charts; as such, you must specify the week in your reference.
Previously accepted charts include the Music Industry Association of Korea (the KMCIA predecessor) chart (for album sales prior to 2008) and Hanteo charts. However, Hanteo rankings are problematic as they currently have multiple options of presenting data (from hourly to yearly), and they do not appear to have a "main" chart. Moreover, actual sales data is available for "gold" members only. Hanteo's song chart is currently unavailable. Billboard Korea is being set up in the near future but currently unavailable. |
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| Mexico | AMPROFON Hung Medien |
AMPROFON (from 1999) | ||||||||
| Netherlands | GfK | NVPI (until 2006) IFPI |
GfK Dutch Single Top 100 | NVPI (until 2006) IFPI |
Weekly archive incorporated directly into charts. The Single Top 100 is a component of the Dutch Top 40, and should be used only if the single did not chart on the Dutch Top 40. | |||||
| Dutch Top 40 | ||||||||||
| New Zealand | RIANZ Hung Medien |
RIANZ (from 2011) RIANZ (1999–2011) Radioscope (from 2007) (Radioscope is down at the moment, perhaps indefinitely, so use this archive or RIANZ webpages) |
RIANZ Hung Medien |
RIANZ |
RIANZ (from 2011) RIANZ (1999–2011) Radioscope (from 2007) (Radioscope is down at the moment, perhaps indefinitely, so use this archive or RIANZ webpages) |
To link to an individual chart (November 2011 onward), enter http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/type?chart=XXXX with XXXX as a chart number and type as the type of chart (singles, albums, compilations, nzsingles, nzalbums). For old charts (prior to November 2011), use the format http://rianz.org.nz/rianz/oldchart.asp?chartNum=XXXX&chartKind=Y with XXXX as a chart number and Y as the kind of chart (S=singles, A=albums, D=DVDs, C=compilations, H=heatseekers [up to 21 May 2007]/ radio airplay [28 May 2007 onward]) | ||||
| Norway | VG-lista IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI (from 1993 to date) | VG-lista IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI |
IFPI (from 1993 to date) | The complete archive (except Midprice and Airplay chart) is on http://lista.vg.no/ | ||||
| Poland | OLiS | ZPAV – Gold ZPAV – Platinum ZPAV- Diamond |
Nielsen Top 5 (archive) | |||||||
| Portugal | AFP Hung Medien |
AFP 1 (weekly) AFP 2 (from 2007) |
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| Russia | 2m-online | |||||||||
| Slovakia | IFPI |
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| Spain | PROMUSICAE Hung Medien |
PROMUSICAE Hung Medien |
Prior to Jan 12, 2009, the charts published at Promusicae, www.spanishcharts.com, and acharts.us were identical, and were all a physical sales chart. After that date, Promusicae began to publish a more comprehensive chart, which included downloads, but www.spanishcharts.com and acharts.us continued to publish only the physical chart. This means that for songs which charted prior to Jan 12, 2009, either source can be used. After Jan 12, 2009, if a song charted on both, then the Promusicae chart should be used. Spanishcharts.com/acharts.us should be used only for charting information after Jan 12, 2009, if the song did not chart on Promusicae. Links to individual charts on Promusicae can be made by using the search function, and then linking to the resulting PDF file.
On July 5, 2009, Spanishcharts.com began publishing the more comprehensive chart as well including the complete archive back to January 2009. |
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| Sweden | IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI | IFPI Hung Medien |
IFPI | Direct linking to Sverigetopplistan charts is not possible because of Javascript. Instead, one has to insert the artist's or song's name into the search box and click "Sök", this shows all of the artist's albums and singles with their chart positions. | |||||
| Switzerland | Hung Medien | Hung Medien (from 1989) | Hung Medien | Hung Medien | Hung Medien (from 1989) | Weekly archive built into main list. | ||||
| United Kingdom | OCC | BPI | OCC OCC archive |
BPI | Archived at OCC artist chart history. Positions below 75 can be found at Chart Stats. Since Chart Stats is an anonymous archive, its use has been challenged in the past. Interesting commentary on older albums is located at the OCC chart history. | |||||
| United States | Billboard | RIAA | Billboard | Billboard | RIAA | Archived at Allmusic. Sometimes Allmusic has chart positions for releases that can't be found on Billboard and visa-versa. This is particularly noticeable when looking for positions in specific genre charts like Adult Contemporary or Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | ||||
| Country | Charts | Archives | Comments | |||||||
| Albums | Singles | |||||||||
| Sales | Certifications | Sales | Airplay | Certifications | αCharts.us | Chart-Surfer.de | Top40-Charts.com | Hung Medien | ||
Nielsen SoundScan International
Many countries have a digital songs chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan International and published in Billboard Magazine in the Hits of the World page.
Certification levels
Note: current certification levels are available at http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/international-award-levels.pdf
Billboard charts
For a complete list of Billboard charts and general information see Billboard charts.
In the United States Billboard publishes singles and albums charts based on data from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS. This guide is designed to help editors to determine which charts are acceptable for use on Wikipedia in which circumstances. Below is the chart matrix for this purpose.
The guide contains the official and current names for the charts as of April 2010, with the exception of the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs), also known as either the Mainstream Top 40 or the Pop Songs chart. On Wikipedia, it is located at a page using both names (one as a disambiguator). When listing the chart in chart tables list it exactly as its page is named: Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs).
Billboard magazine is the provider of U.S. charts; however, its use on Wikipedia when mentioning charts should be limited: i.e., charts should simply be referred to as U.S. followed by the chart name. The only two exceptions to this rule are The Billboard Hot 100 and The Billboard 200 which should be named as they are.
- Sourcing Billboard charts
As with all Wikipedia charts, you should first try to source each chart directly from the Billboard.com website. Ideally, the citation should link to the Billboard page for the song in question, through the artist's discography / chart history page there. If you are having trouble with the Billboard site, Allmusic can be cited instead. Their website allows you to search for an artist; from there (under the "Charts and Awards" tab) you can select the "Billboard Singles" tab which will (ideally) display all of an artist's chart positions. Most of the time, Allmusic will display all of the relevant information. There are a few exceptions to the rule, however, and it usually takes a week or two for information to be updated.
Note, however, that the Billboard and Allmusic archives are sometimes incomplete, particularly on older and/or lesser-known artists. Also, Allmusic rarely displays songs in chronological order. Any of the books by Joel Whitburn may be used as an alternate citation.
On singles discography tables, do not add 100 to the corresponding Bubbling Under peak if the song never entered the Hot 100. Doing so would violate WP:SYNTH by creating information not directly supported by the source (i.e. the notion that the Bubbling Under chart is an extension to the main chart and the position). It should be indicated as an uncharted song with a footnote to indicate the Bubbling Under peak. In the song's article, just indicate it as a Bubbling Under peak, so long as it is verifiable.
It is recommended that you use the {{singlechart}} template where possible.
| Condition | Applicable U.S. Charts | ||
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| Regardless of other chartings, you may add any of the charts to the right → |
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| Additionally you may add the following charts if the conditions below are met. | |||
| If a song has not charted on Billboard Hot 100 you may add any of the following → |
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| If a song has not charted on Hot Dance Club Songs you may add any of the following → |
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| If a song has not charted on the Hot Latin Songs you may add any of the following → |
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| If a song has not charted on Pop 100 you may add any of the following → |
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| If a song has not charted on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs you may add any of the following → |
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| If a song has not charted on Rock Songs you may add any of the following → |
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