THE DAY THE MUSIC GOT COMPLICATED

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted July 20, 2005)

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's countdown this week's Top 10 Trapeze Acts...."

That's the kind of Top Ten list you might have seen when Billboard Magazine was founded back in 1894. In those days, more than a century ago, the publication was primarily concerned with carnival entertainment.

But then came radio stations, recorded music, and jukeboxes -- and gradually the focus of Billboard changed to music, and figuring out which songs were most popular.

On July 20, 1940..... 65 years ago..... Billboard published its first ever "Music Popularity Chart", and that's when local radio stations everywhere started playing the hits, changing both the music and radio businesses forever.

For many years, the music charts were primarily divided into three broad categories..... popular/big band..... country/western..... and R&B, or what was called "race" music.

Nowadays, I confess.... I've never even heard of some of the music categories listed.
Just look in Billboard..... you'll find:
Adult Contemporary
Adult Top 40
Hot R&B
Hot Country
Hot Dance
Reggae
Bluegrass
Hot Ringtones
Hot Rap Tracks
Blues
Hot Latin
Hip-Hop
Classical
Mainstream Rock
Hot Digital
New Age
Top Comedy
Jazz
Top Heatseekers
Canadian Singles
International
Top Electronic Albums
Hot Christian Adult Contemporary
Hot Gospel
Modern Rock
and many more....

Ah, for the simplicity of the old days..... when you could open Billboard Magazine and quickly see a simple list of which songs were most popular........ and on another page, perhaps check out the Top 10 list of "Circus clowns who can fit into one small car"....

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