Charts & Sales

General

Discussion in the Charts forum should be more serious compared to the discussions that you would find in Base. Prediction threads and argumentative threads should be posted in Base, including threads about an album, EP, or song's underperformance on the charts.

• Please make sure to provide a source if available.
• If you want to take over from a neglectful thread starter, send a help request.
• Social media achievements should be posted in Base.
• TV ratings and box office figures should be posted in Entertainment.
• Chart prediction threads should be posted in Base.

Procedure of weekly chart threads
In order to streamline the Charts forum to make it easier to navigate, a procedure for weekly chart threads will be implemented, with slight differences based upon the source involved. This procedure is the nearly same procedure that was done on Old ATRL, just with one slight difference. Example dates will be used to make it easier to understand.

• Procedure for the weekly Billboard chart thread
  • Every week, one thread for the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 will be created on Sunday when the article announcing the Billboard 200 top 10 is posted by a member sourcing Billboard. The same thread with the Billboard 200 top 10 information will become the thread for all of the Billboard charts of the week when the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 is announced. On the following Sunday when the next Billboard 200 top 10 thread is posted, the Billboard charts thread will be renamed to "Billboard Charts (Week of [date of Saturday])" and will be closed.
     
• Procedure for the weekly Hits Daily Double (HDD) album chart threads
  • Every week, one thread for the weekly HDD predictions will be created on Friday, when HDD posts their album unit predictions.
  • The HDD thread will be left open until the respective Billboard 200 is announced, which is when it will be renamed to "HDD Predictions (Week of [date of Saturday])" and will be closed.
     
• Procedure for weekly Billboard chart prediction threads
  • To prevent spam of chart predictions by a bunch of people, a Billboard chart prediction thread for the week can be made. These threads will follow the same schedule as the Billboard threads. Any threads about Billboard chart predictions outside of the main chart prediction thread will be merged into the main chart prediction thread. 
• About first week chart threads
  • We understand that you guys are excited about first week numbers from your faves. However, in order to keep the forum streamlined and to prevent duplicate threads (or new threads being made every day), we request that members who open first week numbers threads (such as daily Spotify streaming updates) must continuously update them until the first week is done. After the first week, the thread will be closed. If a member does not continuously update a first week thread that they created, members are allowed to post their own daily updates within the same thread.
  • Any extra thread(s) created (such as new threads made every day of the first week) will be merged into the main first week threads.
• About "stealing threads"
  • Staff has taken notice to members who post threads far too ahead of time to get a "hit thread", to a point where it's essentially hogging threads. In turn, this creates unnecessary confusion for members. We will take these steps to help stop this.
  • Members who open a thread and then rename it to something that goes in direct contention with the Billboard chart thread or the HDD predictions thread will have their thread locked. If they remake their locked thread, they will be issued a 0-point reminder to read the Charts forum rules. Should they violate this rule again, they will be issued a 30-day 1-point warning for violating Charts forum rules.
  • As already stated, members who post a thread that should be part of the weekly Hits Daily Double or Billboard threads will have that thread merged into the appropriate thread. If they remake the thread, they will be issued a 0-point reminder to read the Charts forum rules. Should they violate this rule again, they will be issued a 30-day 1-point warning for violating Charts forum rules.
• About posting threads for a single chart movement (applies to every official chart including Billboard)
  • Threads about one song/album/EP/etc's chart movement separate from the main chart thread of the week will be merged, or locked if the thread is already popular. Should the thread be locked, a post will be made by a member of the staff to redirect all conversation to the main chart thread of the week.
    • An exception to this rule is if it involves a record (breaking it, matching it, or being close to it). Example titles of such threads:
      • Mariah Carey scores record-tying 19th Hot 100 #1 with 'AIWFCIY'
      • Rihanna extends her record for the most weeks in Hot 100 top 10
      • Adele's "25" debuts #1 on BB200 with record sales of 3.38mil
    • First day, week, and month figures are also allowed. Example titles of such threads:
      • Artist breaks US 1st day streaming record with X streams
      • Artist sells X copies 1st week in the US
      • Artist pulls X Spotify streams 1st month

Posting achievements and milestones

Staff has taken notice to trends in posting threads about small chart milestones and achievements. To combat this, we've decided to set rules for when and when not to post threads celebrating milestones.

• For all streaming figures on any streaming service
  • Only milestones for 100 000 000, 500 000 000, and every 1 000 000 000 are allowed. (i.e. 100 million → 500 million → 1 billion → 2 billion → 3 billion, and so forth)
  • For other milestones, keep it to the appropriate thread in the Music section, the appropriate artist base thread, or the appropriate receipts thread.
• For all sales figures from any country/region
  • Milestones for every 50 thousand copies (physical, digital, or combined) sold are allowed.
  • For other milestones, keep it to the appropriate thread in the Music section, the appropriate artist base thread, or the appropriate receipts thread.
• We ask that you keep international SPS units milestone threads to the relevant receipt threads unless a record is broken. Statistics such as "[album] has sold 15mil worldwide SPS units" are sometimes purposefully vague. Different countries have different methods of counting units for certifications and sales tallying: in the US (RIAA), 150 streams are equivalent to 1 sale, while in the Netherlands (NVPI), 215 streams are equivalent to 1 sale. This complicates attempts at making global SPS unit tallies. For that reason, global SPS unit tallies aren't accurate and should only either be posted in receipt threads, if a record is broken, or if it's a weekly/monthly/yearly chart (like Mediatraffic's year-end global chart). Do not use these numbers for milestone threads.
   
• For chart achievements from small markets
  • We understand your excitement about your fave's song going top 10 on iTunes in Mongolia, but the fact is that most smaller markets lack any official chart, and thus lack reliable information. Small markets without official charts and/or information beyond digital sales charts should not be posted. Threads where the title is something like "[song] goes #1!" and then the OP is "… on iTunes in [very small country]" will be locked. Discussions of these charts should be limited to the appropriate receipts, artist Base, or Music thread.

Finally, we suggest that you tag all threads about achievements and records with the Achievement tag, for the sake of organization.

Structure of Charts forum

Official Charts

• Countries' official charts and genre charts, such as the Billboard Hot 100 or the Official Charts Company UK Top 100 Singles. Other official charts that are updated on a weekly or monthly basis are included.
• Official year-end charts.
• News stories related to any of the above.

Discussions

• Threads about chart metrics that are updated daily or continuously (iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, station countdowns, etc.)
• Achievements and news stories not related to a single official chart (e.g. certifications, sales milestones, touring grosses).
• Discussions about chart methodology.

Artist Stats

• One thread per artist to collect all of the receipts. Discussion is limited to these threads.
• Achievements
• Threads about records and achievements should use this tag.

Other Stats

Any other music-related stats (such as the yearly industry revenue reports from the Recording Industry Association of America), or those that you have compiled yourself.