Is Billboard's chart credible?

[caveman-97]

A week ago, Billboard's Country Singles Chart featured the new Garth Brooks making its debut at Number 1. If this has ever happened before, it has been many years.

This week the song is down to number 8. Is it possible that so many radio stations immediately added the song in tremendous rotation and then suddenly changed their minds?

Or does Billboard's methodology leave a lot to be desired?

 

[dustintv]

Billboard charts are evil in my opinion. Shelby Lynne is one of the best country singers around and has won Grammys and ACM awards yet radio stations don't play her because her songs were only moderately sucessful on the charts.

 

[semoochie]

Billboard now keeps an acurate account of actual sales and actual airplay is monitored. They have recently added internet download info as well. It's probably been pretty reliable since about 1991. Before that, stations reported what they were playing and retail outlets indicated their biggest sellers without any hard proof of either. I don't know if this is just a coincidence but Paula Abdul had a great carreer going! All of her songs were at least top ten. When they changed to the new system for reporting airplay, she had a song that was zooming to the top. It immediately stopped dead in its tracks and started to drop. To my knowledge, she never had another hit song!