Pop Airplay

"Pop Songs" redirects here. For other uses, see Pop music.

The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart. Whereas the Top 40 Mainstream and Pop 100 Airplay charts both measured the airplay of songs played on Mainstream stations playing pop-oriented music, the Pop 100 Airplay (like the Hot 100 Airplay) measures airplay was based on statistical impressions, while the Top 40 Mainstream chart used the number of total detections. Arbitron sometimes refers to the format as Pop Contemporary Hit Radio.

Records

Highest debut

Mariah Carey set the record for the highest debut on the chart with "Dreamlover" which debuted at number 12. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is second, despite having only three days of play, with a number 14 debut. Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" and Madonna's "Frozen" follow with number 16 arrivals.

Most weeks at number one

14 weeks

• "The Sign" - Ace Of Base (1994)

11 weeks

• "One Sweet Day" - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (1995-1996)
• "I Love You Always Forever" - Donna Lewis (1996)
• "Torn" - Natalie Imbruglia (1998)
• "Over and Over" - Nelly featuring Tim McGraw (2004-2005)

10 weeks

• "I Know" - Dionne Farris (1995)
• "Don't Speak" - No Doubt (1996-1997)
• "My Heart Will Go On" - Céline Dion (1998)
• "Bye Bye Bye" - 'N Sync (2000)
• "How You Remind Me" - Nickelback (2001-2002)
• "We Belong Together" - Mariah Carey (2005)

9 weeks

• "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston (1992-1993)
• "That's the Way Love Goes" - Janet Jackson (1993)
• "All That She Wants" - Ace of Base (1993)
• "Kiss from a Rose" - Seal (1995)
• "Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba (1997-1998)
• "Lady Marmalade" - Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil' Kim & Mýa (2001)
• "Hey Ya!" - OutKast (2003-2004)
• "Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis (2008)

Most weekly plays

• "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" - Katy Perry, (12,468)
• "E.T." - Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, (12,361)
• "California Gurls" - Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, (12,159)
• "Give Me Everything" - Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, (12,107)
• "Firework" - Katy Perry, (11,857)

Artists with most number-one singles

• Rihanna (9)
• Katy Perry (8)
• Lady Gaga, Pink (7) (tie)
• Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey (6) (tie)
• Christina Aguilera, Nelly, Avril Lavigne (5) (tie)
• Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Lopez, Bruno Mars (4) (tie)

Artists with the most cumulative weeks at number-one

• Mariah Carey (45)
• Katy Perry (33)
• Ace of Base (29)
• P!nk (28)
• Christina Aguilera, Rihanna (25) (tie)
• Justin Timberlake (24)
• Boyz II Men, Nelly, Beyoncé (23) (tie)

Note: As of June 2012

Artists with most top 10 singles

• 1.) Rihanna (21)
• 2.) Madonna (14) (tie)
• 2.) Pink (14) (tie)
• 2.) Britney Spears (14) (tie)
• 5.) Christina Aguilera (12)

Artists with most entries

• 1.) Rihanna (31)
• 2.) Mariah Carey (29)
• 3.) Britney Spears (28)
• 4.) Madonna (27)
• 5.) Akon (24)

Artist achievements

• Britney Spears holds the record for the longest span of No. 1s (12 years, 7 months, 4 days).
• JoJo became at the age of thirteen, the youngest solo artist to have a number-one single in the United States, when "Leave (Get Out)" hit No. 1.
• Katy Perry's Teenage Dream is the first album ever to have 6 singles top the chart.
• Bruno Mars holds the record for being the only male artist to have his first 7 chart entries all reach the Top 10.
• Lady Gaga is the first artist to have all the singles from her debut album to top the chart.

Chart criteria

There are 40 positions on this chart and it is solely based on radio airplay. This chart ranks the week's hottest pop songs, ranked by mainstream top 40 radio airplay detections as measured by Nielsen BDS Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Songs are ranked by the total number of spins detected per week.

Songs that are gaining plays or remaining flat from previous week will receive a bullet. A song will also receive a bullet if its percentage loss in plays does not exceed the percentage of monitored station downtime for the format. If two songs are tied in total plays, the song with the larger increase in plays is placed first. Songs below No. 20 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks on the chart. Descending songs below No. 10 are moved to recurrent after 52 weeks on the chart.

Use in countdown shows

From January 9, 1993 up until its last first-run show on January 28, 1995, American Top 40 used this chart as its main source.

See also

• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Top 40 chart
• List of number one Top 40 Mainstream hits

External links

• BDS Top 40 Mainstream reporting panel
• Billboard Top 40/CHR chart featured in Radio-Info.com