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Adult Top 40 (formerly known as Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks and called Adult Pop Songs on Billboard.com) is a variation on the United States Billboard charts. The chart tracks "the week's most popular adult top 40 songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS." It is a format in which the genre is geared more towards an adult audience who are not into hard rock, teen pop, dance music, hip hop, or adult contemporary fare.

History[link]

The origins of the Adult Top 40 chart can be traced back to the late 1980s, when several Top 40 stations decided to focus on playing artists in an effort to attract the more desired 25-34 demographic. In 1994, the Adult Top 40 became an official format after years of growth and support from both stations and artists. Most Adult Top 40 stations feature a playlist that include artists such as Lifehouse, Matchbox Twenty, Train, Nickelback, Goo Goo Dolls, Sheryl Crow, Daughtry, Maroon 5, Pink, John Mayer, The Fray, No Doubt, Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Alanis Morissette, Natasha Bedingfield, Jewel, Katy Perry and 3 Doors Down. Its programming is often compared to the musical playlist of the VH1 Channel (as its programming as seen often as a midway point between Top 40 Mainstream and The Adult Contemporary charts). Many Adult Top 40 stations today are a crossover of Hot AC and Top 40 formats, though it's officially classified as a Hot AC format. Billboard first published an Adult Top 40 chart in its October 7, 1995 issue. The first number-one song was "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal.

Records and Achievements[link]

Most weeks at number one[link]

25 weeks

• "Smooth" — Santana featuring Rob Thomas (1999-2000)

23 weeks

• "Wherever You Will Go" — The Calling (2001-2002)

18 weeks

• "Unwell" — Matchbox Twenty (2003)
• "Photograph" — Nickelback (2005-2006)

17 weeks

• "Iris" — Goo Goo Dolls (1998)

16 weeks

• "Complicated" — Avril Lavigne (2002)

15 weeks

• "Don't Speak" — No Doubt (1996-1997)
• "How to Save a Life" — The Fray (2006-2007)

14 weeks

• "Torn" — Natalie Imbruglia (1998)
• "Everything You Want" — Vertical Horizon (2000)
• "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" — Train (2001)

Artists with most number-one singles[link]

• 6 - Katy Perry
• 5 - Pink, Nickelback
• 4 - Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Train, Maroon 5, Matchbox Twenty
• 3 - The Goo Goo Dolls, Adele

Artists with most top 10 singles[link]

• 14 - The Goo Goo Dolls
• 12 - Matchbox Twenty, Maroon 5
• 11 - Nickelback, Train, John Mayer
• 9 - Daughtry, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry

Artist with most charted singles[link]

Sheryl Crow, is the artist with the most placed singles in this chart with 19 to date. Second is Kelly Clarkson with 15 to date.

Most number-one singles by album[link]

Teenage Dream by Katy Perry is the album with the most number one songs (5).

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Adult Top 40 chart
• Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)

External links[link]

• Current Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart

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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[link]

Highest debut[link]

Mariah Carey's 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.^[1]

Most weeks at number one[link]

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[link]

• "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" - Katy Perry, (12,468)^[2]
• "E.T." - Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, (12,361)^[2]
• "California Gurls" - Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, (12,159)^[2]
• "Give Me Everything" - Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, (12,107)^[2]
• "Firework" - Katy Perry, (11,857)^[2]

Artists with most number-one singles[link]

• 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 most top 10 singles[link]

• 1.) Rihanna (15)
• 2.) Madonna (14) (tie)
• 2.) Pink (14) (tie)
• 2.) Britney Spears (14) (tie)
• 5.) Christina Aguilera (12)^[3]

[edit] Artists with most entries^[4]

• 1.) Rihanna (30)
• 2.) Mariah Carey (29)
• 3.) Britney Spears (28)
• 4.) Madonna (27)
• 5.) Akon (24)

Artist achievements[link]

• Britney Spears holds the record for the longest span of No. 1s (12 years, 7 months, 4 days).^[5]
• 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.^{[citation needed]}
• Katy Perry's Teenage Dream is the first album ever to have 6 singles top the chart.^[6]
• Bruno Mars holds the record for being the only male artist to have his first 7 chart entries all reach the Top 10. ^[7]
• Lady Gaga is the first artist to have all the singles from her debut album to top the chart.^{[citation needed]}

Chart criteria[link]

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[link]

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[link]

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

References[link]

External links[link]

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