1.
Phonograph record
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The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the cylinder from the late 1880s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed, by the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. The phonograph record has made a resurgence in the early 21st century –9.2 million records were sold in the U. S. in 2014. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014, as of 2017,48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide,18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new, only two producers of lacquers remains, Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to heat or broken. The large cover are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, in the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008, along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no evidence that Edisons phonograph was based on Scotts phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a paper tape, with the idea of creating a telephone repeater analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. The tinfoil was wrapped around a metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately, Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device, the wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Berliners earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm in diameter, both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality
2.
Mos Def
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Yasiin Bey, best known by his stage name Mos Def, is an American hip hop recording artist, actor and activist from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He subsequently formed the duo Black Star, alongside fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli and he was featured on the roster of Rawkus Records and in 1999 released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides. His debut was followed by The New Danger, True Magic, the editors at About. com listed him as the 14th greatest emcee of all time on their 50 greatest MCs of our time list. Prior to his career in music, Mos Def first entered public life as a actor, having played roles in television movies, sitcoms. He is also known as the host of Def Poetry Jam, Mos Def has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, the idea of American exceptionalism, and the state of African Americans. Dante Terrell Smith Bey was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while his father lived in New Jersey. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith and he is close friends with fellow Muslim rappers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest. Mos Def attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler Middle School 383 in Bushwick, after returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Mos Def dropped out of high school during sophomore year. In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Mos Def witnessed his then five year old younger brother Ilias Bey get hit by a car, Bey, who later adopted the alias DCQ, was described by Smith as my first partner in Hip Hop. Mos Def began his rap career in 1994, forming the rap group UTD along with younger brother DCQ. In 2004, they released the album Manifest Destiny, their first, the album features a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded during the original UTD run. In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the rap group Black Star with Talib Kweli. The duo released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the singles Respiration and Definition, which both reached in the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Mos Def released his debut album Black on Both Sides in October 1999. The single Ms. Fat Booty charted, while the album reached #25 on the Billboard 200, around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie. In January 2002 Rawkus Records was taken over by Geffen Records and it included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish, and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band. The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful for the artist to date, the single Sex, Love & Money charted, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Mos Defs final solo album for Geffen Records, titled True Magic, was released in 2006, the song Crime & Medicine is a remake of GZAs 1995 single Liquid Swords
3.
The Ecstatic
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The Ecstatic is the 2009 fourth studio album by American rapper Mos Def. He worked with such as Preservation, Mr. Flash, Oh No, and Madlib. Singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, formerly of the label, was one of the albums few guest vocalists, along with rappers Slick Rick. For its front cover, a still from Charles Burnetts 1978 film Killer of Sheep was reproduced in red tint, the Ecstatic was described by music journalists as a conscious and alternative hip hop record with an eccentric, internationalist quality. Mos Def titled The Ecstatic after one of his favorite novels—the 2002 Victor LaValle book of the same name—believing its titular phrase evoked his singular vision for the album. Released on June 9,2009, The Ecstatic charted at number nine on the Billboard 200, a widespread critical success, The Ecstatic was viewed as a return to form for Mos Def and one of the years best albums. He embarked on a tour to support the record, performing concerts in North America, Japan, Australia. While touring with him as his DJ, Preservation began to develop remixes of the albums songs, in 2006, Mos Defs third album True Magic was released haphazardly by Geffen Records to fulfill a contractual obligation while he was devoting more time to his acting career. After ending his tenure on Geffen, he signed a deal with Downtown Records. Mos Def worked with producers Mr. Flash, Oh No, Madlib, and Preservation, for The Ecstatic, Oh No reused some of his productions from his 2007 album Dr. Nos Oxperiment, while Madlib incorporated samples from his Beat Konducta in India record. For Life in Marvelous Times, Mr. Flash reused the beat from Champions—his 2006 collaboration with the French hip hop group TTC—while History used a beat produced by J Dilla before his death. With Preservation, Mos Def produced Casa Bey after a 2006 trip to Rio de Janeiro, Mos Def and Preservation altered one of the bands songs—Casa Forte, an instrumental featuring their characteristic blend of funk, jazz, soul, and Brazilian rhythms—and used it as the beat. The original song title—meaning strong house in Portuguese—was changed to Casa Bey, Bey was Mos Defs family surname. According to him, he tried to enlist rappers Jay Electronica, Black Thought, and Trugoy for the song, Mos Def collaborated with singer Georgia Anne Muldrow and rappers Slick Rick and Talib Kweli—his partner in the rap duo Black Star. Muldrow sang and played piano on Roses, which she originally wrote and she said Mos Def borrowed the song for The Ecstatic after they met through a mutual friend. They came over one day and started playing Roses and he was singing the song and knew it. He said I wanna grab that, I said, Man, I already got this as a single. He snatched it up real quick, she recalled in laughter, with The Ecstatic, Mos Def said he wanted to offer listeners sincere, uninhibited observations about life and love, some truth and positive heart lift, without the need for club songs
4.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
5.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
6.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
7.
Chicano rock
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Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to an extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, Chicano rock is the distinctive style of rock and roll music performed by Mexican Americans from East L. A. and Southern California that contains themes of their cultural experiences. There are two undercurrents in Chicano rock, one is a devotion to the original rhythm and blues and country roots of Rock and roll. Chicano rock n roll star Ritchie Valens, was a Mexican-American singer and songwriter influential in the Chicano rock movement and he recorded numerous hits during his short career, most notably the 1958 hit La Bamba. Valens died at age 17 in a crash with fellow musicians Buddy Holly. The tragedy was later immortalized as the day the music died in the song American Pie, another characteristic is the openness to Latin American sounds and influences. Los Lobos in particular alternates between R&B/roots rock and the Tex-Mex/Latin rock style, the 1958 hit song Tequila. was written and sung by the saxophone player Danny Flores and performed by The Champs. Flores, who died in September 2006, was known as the Godfather of Latino Rock, groups like Ozomatli and Quetzal had led the new wave of Latin Rock groups that fuse multiple musical genres. Ozomatli has been mixing rock, hip-hop, funk, cumbia and they do not have a category for Ozomatli because they mix genres and music together to where they are one, much like how they have spread their music around the globe. Their song “City of Angels, ” has presented Latino rock on the lands of America and has spread in the state of California. Quetzal, the band from the barrios of East Los Angeles has been creating heartfelt Latin folk. The band combines rock, Afro-Cuban, country blues, and jazz elements to support the wide-ranging, bilingual, the retro-futuristic mix has garnered praise from critics the LA Times calls them a world-class act and support from such luminaries as Los Lobos. Quetzal simultaneously forges a sound that makes you dance and contemplate change, another musician to consider includes Robert Lopez aka El Vez-The Mexican Elvis. Robert Lopez aka El Vez started operating an art gallery called “La Luz de Jesus”, since Lopez’s impersonator did not meet his expectation El Vez was created. El Vez’s first performance was in Memphis, Tennessee on August 16,1989, Lopez started making karaoke tapes while running his gallery. Most of his music does not include sacred topics, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect them. His goal is to blur the line between what is sacred and profane allowing him to have wide age range in his audience and he has been releasing albums since 1994 continuing to use satire and humor in his songs to express revolutionary views. His lyrics are like history lessons containing strong, clear, radical message. Some teachers and professors use his music to teach history, Dick Hugg and KRLA1110 played a big role in promoting this music
8.
The Intruders (band)
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The Intruders were an American soul music group most popular in the 1960s and 1970s. As one of the first groups to have hit songs under the direction of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, formed in 1960, the group originally consisted of Sam Little Sonny Brown, Eugene Bird Daughtry, Phillip Phil Terry and Robert Big Sonny Edwards. In 1969, Sam Brown was replaced as lead singer by Bobby Starr, Brown, Daughtry, Terry and Edwards had been recording and performing one-off singles together since 1961, blending Phillys street corner doo-wop tradition with black gospel fervor. The result was neither as pop-infected as Motown, nor as funky, the sound which The Intruders refined for the Excel, Gamble and Philadelphia International imprints reflected a different attitude than either Stax or Motown. Gamble and Huffs success with The Intruders helped convince Columbia Records to grant them the money to launch Philadelphia International, Gamble and Huff acknowledged that their work with The Intruders was the foundation of what they called The Sound Of Philadelphia. The Intruders, meanwhile, were undergoing some internal turmoil, when the group resurfaced on the 1970 Gamble LP, When We Get Married, lead singer Brown was replaced by Bobby Starr. The title song, When We Get Married, a Dreamlovers cover, became a hit on the charts, as was the follow-up Win, starrs tenure with the group included Soul Train television appearances, and the rare collectors single, Im Girl Scoutin. Brown returned to the group in 1973 for the album Save The Children, Kenny Gambles mother Ruby, the inspiration for Ill Always Love My Mama, died March 10,2012 in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, at age 96. Cowboys to Girls remains the only topping single of their career. It was a 1968 Top 10 Pop and R&B smash. Gold disc for one million sales in mid May 1968 and it was covered by the Hacienda Brothers. The Duke of Earl, Gene Chandler, also covered the song, other artists, such as Sweet Blindness, Philly Cream, and Joe Bataan, have also covered the song. It was also covered by the Latin group Tierra, who took the song to Top 20 on the charts in 1980, in 2005, singer Keith Sweat covered The Intruders 1973 hit, I Wanna Know Your Name. In 1968, Peaches & Herb covered The Intruders1966 hit, United and this song also served as the basis for Peaches and Herbs even bigger 1978 #1 sequel hit, Reunited. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, their music was popular on the West Coast among Latino, specifically Chicano, youth, as evidenced by their covers by the Hacienda Brothers and Tierra. Daughtry died of cancer on December 25,1994 at age 55, according to Marc Taylor, in the book, A Touch Of Classic Soul of the Early 1970s, in 1975, Edwards and Terry walked away from the industry after becoming Jehovahs Witnesses. Edwards died on October 15,2016 from an attack at age 74. The Intruders today include Bobby Starr, Glenn Montgomery and Phil Gay, the group is featured on the My Music DVD hosted by Patti LaBelle on PBS, and tour with the Love Train, Sound of Philadelphia Concert series. There are also several groups including the best variation of The Intruders, The Philly Intruders who appear on The Big Show DVD
9.
Dead Presidents
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Dead Presidents is a 1995 American crime thriller film co-written by Michael Henry Brown and the Hughes brothers, Albert and Allen, who also produced and directed. It stars Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodriguez, NBushe Wright, the film chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis, focusing on his teenage years as a high school graduate and his experiences during the Vietnam War. As he returns to his hometown in The Bronx, Curtis finds himself struggling to support himself, certain characters from the film are based on real acquaintances of Kirkland, who served time in prison after committing robbery in facepaint. In the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis is about to graduate high school. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind his middle-class family, his pregnant girlfriend Juanita, and small-time crook Kirby, Anthonys close friend, Skip, later joins Curtis squad after flunking out of college, and his other friend, Jose, is drafted into the Army. When Anthony returns to the Bronx in 1973, after four years of service and he finds Skip is now a heroin addict, Jose is a pyromaniac, and Cleon, a religious yet deadly staff sergeant that was in his squad, is now a devoted minister. After being laid off from his job at a butcher shop, after an argument with Juanita, Anthony meets his girlfriends sister, Delilah, who is now a member of the Nat Turner Cadre, a revolutionary militant group. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah, and Cleon devise a plan to rob a car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank of the Bronx. The next day, the group strategically position themselves around the street, armed with weapons and disguised with face paint, the plan goes awry after Anthony and Jose are spotted by the driver, causing a large shootout with the security guards. Jose plants a device on the escaping truck to blow off the door. Delilah saves Anthonys life as he is about to be shot by a guard, and gets killed instead, devastating Anthony. As the group collects what cash they can from the wreckage, they split up to escape the police. Not long after the heist, Kirby hears that Cleon has been giving out $100 bills and has himself a new Cadillac that he can barely afford. Anthony drives over to Cleons church to speak to him, only to him being led out the front door in handcuffs by two detectives, Cleon gives up the other robbers as part of a plea bargain. NYPD officers storm Skips apartment only to find that he has died of a heroin overdose, as Kirby and Anthony prepare to flee to Mexico, police raid the bar, surrounding and arresting the pair. Anthony is sentenced to 15 years to life in prison by the judge, Anthony, furious at his sentence in spite of his years of service for his country, throws a chair at the judge before being escorted away. The films ends with Anthony looking out the window of his prison bus, the film depicts the struggle of returning war veterans who are neglected by the US government. Many veterans of the Vietnam War were denied benefits, compensation, Dead Presidents received mixed reviews from critics
10.
Philadelphia International Records
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Philadelphia International Records is an American record label based in Philadelphia. It was founded in 1971 by the duo, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. It was famous for showcasing the Philadelphia soul music genre that was founded on the gospel, doo-wop and this Philly Soul sound later became a prominent and distinct era within R&B itself. During the 1970s the label released a string of hits which emphasized lavish orchestral instrumentation, heavy bass. Some of their most popular and best selling acts included Patti LaBelle, The OJays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, MFSB, Billy Paul, between 1971 and the early 80s, the label sold over 170 gold and platinum records. Philadelphia International Records has been defunct since 1987, and finally shut down in 2001. As of 2007, Sony Music Entertainment owns all rights to the Philadelphia International Records music catalogue, in 1965, Huff joined Gambles band, The Romeos, a popular moniker at the time, by replacing future Philadelphia International Records producer and arranger Thom Bell on piano. Kenny Gamble and The Romeos had seen little success up to that point playing for their label, Arctic Records, the success of their biggest signing, The Intruders, brought attention to Gamble and Huff, which allowed them to create Neptune Records in 1969. Neptune Records, an ambitious project for the duo, was financed by Chess Records Group. When Chess Records Groups management changed hands in 1969, Neptune Records folded, with the collapse of Neptune Records, Gamble and Huff transferred their signed artists onto a new project, Philadelphia International Records. The label was set up in connection with Mighty Three/Assorted Music, Jones by Billy Paul,1972, When Will I See You Again by The Three Degrees,1974, and Youll Never Find Another Love Like Mine by Lou Rawls,1976. The label had a deal with CBS Records until 1984. Distribution of the catalog from 1976 onwards was then taken over by EMI, in 2007, Sonys Legacy Recordings regained the rights to Philadelphia Internationals full catalog and the following year, PIR/Legacy released a box set titled Love Train, The Sound of Philadelphia. Most of the released by the label was recorded and produced at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. More than 30 resident studio musicians, known collectively as MFSB Mother Father Sister Brother, were based at this studio, some of these musicians also acted as arrangers, writers or producers for Philadelphia International as well as for other labels recording in the city. They included Bobby Martin, Norman Harris, Thom Bell, Ronnie Baker, Vince Montana and later, Jack Faith, Gamble and Huff worked as independent producers with a series of artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Jerry Butler, Wilson Pickett and Dusty Springfield. They also produced The Jacksons first two albums for Epic/CBS after the group had left Motown in 1976, the first, titled The Jacksons featured the platinum-selling single Enjoy Yourself, and a second album, Goin Places followed in 1977. Although on CBS subsidiary Epic, both albums and the singles carried a Philadelphia International logo
11.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
