This guideline provides guidance about the suitability of music charts for inclusion in Wikipedia articles, both in article prose and in the standard tables of charts. It does not provide specifics of formatting tables, which is the subject of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Record charts.
A chart is normally considered suitable for inclusion if it meets all of the following characteristics:
It is published by a recognized reliable source. This includes any IFPI affiliate, Billboard magazine, or any organization with the support of Nielsen SoundScan. Recognized national measurement firms, such as Crowley Broadcast Analysis for Brazil or Monitor Latino for Latin America, are legitimate sources of charts.
It covers sales or broadcast outlets from multiple sources.
It is static, that is, the data in the chart cannot change. This excludes dynamic "all-time" charts, such as the ones published by Hung Medien.
Charts which rank material from a single vendor or network are generally unsuitable for inclusion in articles. They should never be placed in discography tables or tables of charts. They may occasionally be mentioned in article prose if special circumstances warrant it. "Special circumstances" include notable controversies alleging chart manipulation, or cases where eligibility requirements prevented standard charts from recognizing the sales. This would include, for example, the noted resurgence of Michael Jackson related sales at the time of his death, when many chart rules prevented any of his album sales from being credited towards a chart position. Similarly, some charts representing the home country of the artist or composer (this can mean country of origin, country of residence, official nationality or any country where the artist or composer has lived for a substantial part of their lives) or releases with a strong link to the country in question (e.g. Eurovision entries), can be included if no other suitable charts can be located.
Note, however, that while single-network charts do not satisfy the charting criterion, some network charts may fulfill other NMUSIC criteria instead. For example, CBC Radio 2's Radio 2 Top 20 chart in Canada is not considered a pass of the charting criterion, but does constitute a pass of NMUSIC #11 as proof that the artist has been placed in rotation nationally by a major radio or music television network. Do not use this chart to support statements about specific chart positions or weeks-on, do not create or maintain "List of number-one hits on the Radio 2 Top 20" articles, and do not include it in discography listings as a record chart — use the chart solely to support statements about airplay on R2.
Charts are frequently related to one another mathematically. For example, the Billboard Hot 100 is derived by weighting positions on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, the Billboard Hot 100 Sales and Digital Songs, and the Billboard Hot 100 Streaming Songs. This means that in the vast majority of cases, any song that charts on the Billboard Hot 100 can be presumed to have charted on the other charts, and specifically mentioning the position will simply clutter an article. In unusual cases, the subordinate chart can be mentioned: take, for example, a single which had no airplay because of objectionable content, but still charted extremely high on the composite chart due to sales. This would be unusual enough to potentially warrant mention.
Examples of dependent/component/mathematically related charts:
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay – related to Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100 Sales charts – related to Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100 Streaming Songs – related to Billboard Hot 100
Certifications
Certifications should be sourced directly to certifying agencies, most of which provide a searchable database. When such a database is not available, other reliable sources may be used, but they must directly state that the certifying agency has granted the certification. Many popular press articles will contain statements such as "... has gone gold ..." or "... has gone platinum ..." based on a sales figure, when, in fact, the certifying agency has not yet verified those sales and granted a certification.
A song/album's chart trajectory should not be included in an article as this constitutes an indiscriminate collection of information. Chart trajectories may be mentioned in the article text when there is sufficient reason to do so (for example, a song debuted at number 100, became a sleeper hit and peaked at number 1). Key facts, some examples being the debut position, number of weeks spent at peak position, and/or number of weeks in total on the chart may be mentioned within the article text, but should not be included as routine data for all charts.
In general, chart positions over 200 should not be listed, as this usually represents a minor amount of sales and is considered excessive detail. This applies to any chart, be it single or album, weekly, yearly, decade or all-time.
Amazon: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
America's Music Charts: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
ARC Weekly Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Argentina Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Argentina Singles Top 100 from charly1300.com. Per the chart description ...otros factores que cada semana varían y se modifican en el Ranking. Los datos que proporcionamos no son 100% verificables (Other factors that vary from week to week modify the rankings. The data is not 100% verifiable).
Argentina Top 100 at argentinatop100.com.ar. Anonymous chart, with no explanation of methodology or source. Singles chart appears to be a one-week old copy of the chart from charly1300.com.
Australia Country Tracks Top 30: This chart has been determined as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology; see Talk:2009 in country music.
Note: The Australian Country Albums chart is published by ARIA and therefore acceptable for use. Australia does not seem to have a valid country singles chart.
(Australia) hot100au.com: See hot100au.com/about/. This is an iTunes chart. See iTunes listed below.
Beatport: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
The Big Top 40 Show Chart primarily based on iTunes data.
Brazil Hot 100/Hot100Brasil: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Note: the chart archive in this PDF file is a mirror of Brazil Hot 100.
Note: see #WP:GOODCHARTS for a discussion of the Hot 100 Airplay chart from Billboard Brasil which, if properly sourced, is acceptable.
Brazilian Singles Chart from allcharts.org is a mirror of Brazil Hot 100's "Hot 100 Songs and Tracks".
Bulgarian National Top 40: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Note: the chart at αCharts.us is a mirror of the Bulgarian National Top 40.
Croatian Singles Chart at ehot50.blog.hr : blog sourced chart.
Croatian Singles Chart at www.soundguardian.com. No apparent notability. Validation of this chart compared to the airplay charts it claims to aggregate does not validate the chart.
Cyprus Super Radio Chart This chart is a radio chart and it has not received an official status.
Euro 200/APC-stats: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Note: the following charts are known to be mirrors of these charts:
Greek Hot 75,Greek Dance, Greek Hype, Greek Pop, Greek Rock, Greek R&B & Latin, Greek Radio1 DJs: These charts from www.radio1.gr are all single network charts.
Hungary Editor's Choice Top 40 at MAHASZ. The Editors' Choice Top 40 should not be used: this is a critic's list, not a reflection of sales or airplay.
Indonesian Top 50: see "Creative Disc".
Infodisc.fr : For singles (and albums before 1985 at http://www.infodisc.fr/Album_Historique.php), site uses various sources to recreate, through their own methodology, fictional chart positions.
iTunes: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
Latin Areschart: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Latvian Airplay Top, Latvian Singles Chart This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
LCC Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and other Lithuania Charts Company charts: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Lithuanian Airplay Chart: This chart's article were deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Lithuanian Top 40 from music.lt. This chart is based on membership voting, and does not reflect verifiable sales or airplay.
Los 40 Principales. Single network chart documenting playlist frequency on the same network.
México Top 100 from Americatop100.com. This chart was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Mu-Mo: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
MYX Hit Chart, MYX Daily Top 10, Pinoy MYX Countdown: These charts were deleted by deletion discussion as non-notable charts with dubious methodology.
Odyssey Albums Chart: Single vendor charts should not be used.
Philippines Hot 100 prior to June 2017: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion (multiple times) as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology. However, from June 2017, charts were provided by Billboard Philippines. In January 2018, the charts were discontinued and are now inactive.
Polish National Top 50: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology.
Note: a valid Polish albums chart can be found at olis.onyx.pl.
Portuguese Singles at αCharts.us: see Euro 200/APC-stats.
Radio Disney: Charts from countdown shows should not be used as they are not derived from verifiable sales and/or airplay totals. Now defunct.
Recochoku: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
Record Land: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums: Chart allows albums to chart prior to release based solely on song streams and sales. See: discussion.
Serbian Pop Top Lista: "TOP 50 SRBIJA" chart at poptoplista.com. Rankings are apparently combinations of radio airplay in Serbia with votes of Web site visitors.
Spanish Singles Chart on allcharts.org. This is a mirror of Los 40 Principales, which is listed above.
Spotify: Charts pertaining to only one specific retailer should not be used.
United World Chart, Global Top 40 Albums, Media Traffic: This chart's article was deleted by deletion discussion as a non-notable chart with dubious methodology. This chart is also used to compile the data for the winners of the World Music Awards, which as of 2021 have been on a seven-year hiatus.
ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks Countdowns (VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown, TeenNick Top 10 and CMT Hot Twenty, among others): Both the CMT and VH1 programs (the VH1 program ended in December 2015) formerly used a mix of network airplay and radio popularity with some minor viewer feedback to compile their lists, but now only depend entirely on viewer text messaging and internet voting to compile their lists and encourage multiple votes, along with a limited pool of videos chosen by viewers to fill the list. TeenNick's countdown was subject to the same issues, along with producer and host input (the host, Nick Cannon, had a full executive role with the network and has used the network to promote his produced acts in the past) to influence how the videos chart; it ended in 2018, leaving CMT Hot Twenty as the only active program among the three.
Vietnamese YanTV We10: A music chart which is published by YanTV and based on viewer's choice.
Worf Music Awards: Probably non-existent award, mass-added to various artist pages at one point. See deleted by deletion discussion.
World Albums Top 40/World Singles Top 40: These listings on acharts.us are mirrors of the United World Chart.
chartdata.org – Reproduces some data available from Recommended charts. Other available chart information is of unsystematic or uncertain origin. Also applies to their Twitter account.
chartmasters.org – Falls under WP:SPS, and there's no indication of where the figures are from.
chartsaroundtheworld.com – Reproduces information that can be found on other reliable sources or sources whose origins are unknown. See discussion.
hitparadeitalia.it – Hobbyist web site, uses various sources to recreate, through his own methodology, fictional national charts.
kworb.net – Mostly compiles airplay data from Mediabase along with normalized popularity values for tracks in the iTunes Store; in particular, the sales estimates page should not be cited under any circumstance, as the provided figures on the page are merely estimated and are not based on official data.
Tsort.info/music/ – In general, reproduces information available directly from sources listed in Recommended charts. Exceptions appear to be sourced from single-station airplay or single-vendor sales figures.
twitter.com/chartnews – In general, reproduces information available directly from sources listed in Recommended charts. Sales figures appear to be obtained from a mixture of reliable and unreliable sources, including mediatraffic.de; in some cases, provided sales figures do not match those from recommended sources provided concurrently.
UKchartsplus.co.uk – In general, reproduces information available directly from sources listed in Recommended charts. Uncertain methodology as to annual figures, which do not match recommended sources.
worldmusicawards.com – Although this is an actual (sometimes) televised awards show (with an admittedly shaky history), the articles found under the "News" section of its official website should not be cited, as the text of these articles is copied verbatim from mediatraffic.de, including the dubious sales data.
The following charts are recommended for use, although some archives of these charts are specifically deprecated. These are charts which are believed to meet all requirements for inclusion, and have reliable, licensed archives of positions which allow for stable and reliable referencing.
Many reliable charts are not included on this list, primarily due to archiving problems. The Romanian Top 100, for example, appears to be a reliable chart, but no stable searchable archive is available. These charts can be included so long as care is taken in providing a reliable source for the information.
If only the latest version of a chart is published online, please add it to Wikipedia:Record charts/List. The list is archived to the Wayback Machine at least twice every week.
All charts on this site are official and properly licensed.
No problems have been detected with this archive. While using an official source is generally preferred, using this archive as a convenience link is acceptable. Good and Featured class articles should not rely on unlicensed archives as convenience links, and should use official sites and licensed archives where possible.
While this chart appears to have been archived correctly, there are problems surrounding this archive site that make it questionable. Further use of this archive is discouraged, and people are encouraged to change links to this site to point to other sources.
This chart has been archived incorrectly or is taken from an impermissible chart. It cannot be used as a source.
Typical sources for record charts and archives, by country
Kent Music Report was the accepted chart from 1976 to June 1988, but is not available online. The Hung Medien Australian-charts.com may contain user-generated info (seeRfC).
Crowley Broadcast Analysis's Top 100 Brasil chart is fully accessible by free log-in and archived. União Brasileira de Compositores weekly streaming chart and Pro-Música's monthly streaming chart both have accessible archives.
The (now defunct) album chart is poorly formatted and difficult to navigate. Detailed navigation help is available here.The Hot 100 Airplay and Hot Pop Songs charts from Billboard Brasil magazine are acceptable, but not archived. These charts can be included only by referencing the physical magazine, not the online chart. The remaining charts from Billboard Brasil are from individual Brazilian states, and generally should not be used.
RPM contains information for music from 1964–2000; charts are archived by Collections Canada, although some are missing from the collection. Prior to 1964, the CHUM Chart is a valid alternative to RPM, as it was considered the de facto national chart in that period; however, as of 1964, CHUM lost its special status and became just a regular single-station chart. (The CHUM Chart has been republished in book form, and ChumTribute.com archives an online version.)
Both Eesti Tipp-40 single and album charts are posted weekly by the Eesti Ekspress journalist Siim Nestor. The journalist's Eesti Ekspress author page has the history of charts that have been published. Three charts are published every week - when clicking on each chart article, it opens automatically on the Eesti Lood Tipp-40 (the local Estonian chart), but at the top of the table you can access the Album Tipp-40 (album chart) and Singlid Tipp-40 (singles chart) by clicking on the aforementioned chart names.
Search available at ifpi.fi. Click "Albumit - viikko xx/xxxx »" for albums or "Singlet - viikko xx/xxxx »" for singles. There is also a download chart at latauslista.fi, but this should be treated as a component chart: it should be used only when the main chart was not entered.
The IFPI chart only shows the current week, to see previous weeks and years use archive.org. However this has only been sporadically archived but the chart table does include Best Position which may be helpful for any missing weeks. In their ancient charts, IFPI also listed any certifications given under the Awards column. G=gold, P=platinum 2P=2×platinum etc. Again use archive.org to see previous certifications. Webcitation.org also has a number of cached pages going back to January 2010.
Actually, Indonesia has record tracking organization called "ASIRI" (Indonesia Recording Industry Association) but they are not actively tracking record sales.
Detailed navigation help is available due to language difficulties/explanations; on what each chart (Oricon/Billboard/RIAJ) are specifically used for, click here.
For singles sales prior to 2018, see the weekly, monthly, and yearly Circle Download Chart; as of 2018, Circle does not publish singles sales data. For album sales, see the monthly or yearly Circle Album Chart; as of July 7, 2022, Circle also publishes weekly album sales data.
Prior to 2019, there were three tabs above every chart: 종합 (cumulative chart), 국내 (domestic chart), and 국외 (foreign chart). Use cumulative chart positions. Clearly note if the "foreign chart" is used instead. (Note: the foreign chart includes releases by non-Korean artists, as well as foreign-language releases by Korean artists.)
Adabow has access to a book which lists most peak chart positions and certifications up to 2006
To link to an individual chart (January 2003 onward), select from the "Chart Archive" in the top right corner. You will be taken to a new URL which is a direct link. For old charts (prior to November 2011), use the format http://rianz.org.nz/rianz/oldchart.asp?chartNum=XXXX&chartKind=Y with XXXX as a chart number and Y as the kind of chart (S=singles, A=albums, D=DVDs, C=compilations, H=heatseekers [up to 2007-05-21]/ radio airplay [2007-05-28 to 2011-10-31])
The radio airplay chart Romanian Top 100 is to be used for Romanian peaks until its cancellation in February 2012 (archives can be found here). Beginning with 26 February 2012 and ending 28 November 2021, the Airplay 100 — based on both radio and television airplay throughout Romania — replaced the Romanian Top 100 and served as the country's national singles chart (archives can be found here). Media Forest, the compiler of both the Romanian Top 100 and the Airplay 100, also weekly publishes split radio and television airplay charts on their website, which can be used as further charts (see this, this and this) alongside the Romanian Top 100, Airplay 100, charts published by Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR). UPFR had briefly published airplay charts from 2008 to 2011, which may be used if the Romanian Top 100 lacks archives, and resumed the publication of charts in November 2021 (archives can be found here). Is there no other chart available for a specific date, then the Media Forest charts should be used as the main ones. In February 2022, Billboardinaugurated Romania Songs, a chart documenting the streaming and digital download activity in Romania; this ranking can be used interchangeably with the UPFR charts (archives for Romania Songs can be found here).
Prior to January 12, 2009, the charts published at PROMUSICAE, www.spanishcharts.com, and Acharts.co were identical, and were based on physical sales. After that date, PROMUSICAE began to publish a more comprehensive chart, which included downloads, but www.spanishcharts.com and Acharts.co continued to publish only the physical chart. This means that for songs which charted prior to January 12, 2009, either source can be used. After January 12, 2009, if a song charted on both, then the PROMUSICAE chart should be used. Spanishcharts.com/Acharts.co should be used only for charting information after January 12, 2009, if the song did not chart on PROMUSICAE. Links to individual charts on PROMUSICAE can be made by using the search function, and then linking to the resulting PDF file.
On July 5, 2009, Spanishcharts.com began publishing the more comprehensive chart as well including the complete archive back to January 2009.
IPFI Sweden stopped adding new certifications to its official website some time ago but these old certifications can be accessed using archive.org All certifications, including historical ones can be seen on Sverigetopplistan but you will need to know or find the week & year the record was certified, or click in "Sök" at the top right corner to search an artist and check certifications along best positions. Individual weeks can now be linked to by copying the url.
Archives available at OCC. Note that for the period 1994–2001 Singles positions 76–100 found on the OCC website do not match the charts published at the time in the OCC-licensed magazine Hit Music (archived at Chart Log UK).
Books published by Joel Whitburn cover many of the major Billboard genre-specific charts.
Country
Charts
Archives
Comments
Albums
Singles
Sales
Certifications
Sales
Airplay
Certifications
Acharts.co
Chart-Surfer.de
Top40-Charts.com
Hung Medien
Nielsen SoundScan International
Many countries have a digital songs chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan International and published in Billboard Magazine in the Hits of the World page.
The following charts are acceptable and are deemed as reliable sources for use. However these charts do not have a searchable database or are archived by the website. In order to prevent WP:LINKROT, the source must be manually archived using the Internet Archive or another similar service.
For a complete list of Billboard charts and general information see Billboard charts.
In the United States Billboard publishes songs and albums charts based on data from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS. This guide is designed to help editors to determine which charts are acceptable for use on Wikipedia in which circumstances. Below is the chart matrix for this purpose.
The guide contains the official and current names for the charts as of April 2010, with the exception of the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs), also known as either the Mainstream Top 40 or the Pop Songs chart. On Wikipedia, it is located at a page using both names (one as a disambiguator). When listing the chart in chart tables list it exactly as its page is named: Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs).
Billboard magazine is the provider of US charts; however, its use on Wikipedia when mentioning charts should be limited: i.e., charts should simply be referred to as US followed by the chart name. The only two exceptions to this rule are the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200, which should include Billboard as it is a part of the actual chart name.
Sourcing Billboard charts
As with all record charts, you should first try to source each chart directly from the Billboard.com website. Ideally, the citation should link to the Billboard page for the song in question, through the artist's discography / chart history page there.
Note, however, that the Billboard archives are sometimes incomplete, particularly on older and/or lesser-known artists. Any of the books by Joel Whitburn may also be used to verify chart positions.
On singles discography tables, do not add 100 to a Bubbling Under peak if the song never entered the corresponding chart [i.e., Billboard Hot 100 and Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, or Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (do not add 50 to a Bubbling Under peak on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs after October 2012)]. Doing so would violate WP:SYNTH by creating information not directly supported by the source (i.e., the notion that the Bubbling Under chart is an extension to the main chart and the position). It should be indicated as an uncharted song with a footnote to indicate the Bubbling Under peak. In the song's article, just indicate it as a Bubbling Under peak, so long as it is verifiable. If an artist has had Bubbling Under entries but no songs that entered the Hot 100 proper, or has had multiple Bubbling Under entries, discography tables may use a separate "Bubbling Under" column to save on footnotes.
Also, when creating singles tables, do not include charts on which the artist has never appeared—a Hot 100 column is not mandatory if the artist never charted on the Hot 100.
It is recommended that you use the {{single chart}} template where possible.
Song charts
Decision tree for adding song charts
Condition
Applicable US charts
Regardless of other chartings, you may add any of the charts to the right →
Additionally, you may add the following charts if the conditions below are met.
If a song has charted on Hot Latin SongsorLatin Airplay but not any other Billboard genre charts listed on "Applicable US charts" you may add any of the following[G] →
If a song has not charted on the Pop 100, you may add →
Genre-specific digital song sales and streaming songs charts should not be included unless a song did not chart on the respective all-genre Digital Song Sales or Streaming Songs charts and the genre's "hot" chart.
Album charts
Decision tree for adding album charts
Condition
Applicable US charts
Explanation
If an album has charted on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums you may not add any of the following →
Billboard in October 2012 launched the R&B Songs chart and in January 2013, launched the R&B Albums chart as distillations of the main Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. The separate R&B song and album charts rank the top 25 songs or albums, but exclude rap titles. Effectively they are a subset of the main chart.
If an album has charted on Top Latin Albums, and on any other Billboard album genre charts, you may not add one of the following[G] →
Prior to the inception of an overall Top Latin Albums chart in July 1993, it was simply divided into Latin Pop, Regional Mexican, and Tropical Albums. Since then, they are a subset of the main chart. The Latin Rhythm Albums chart was launched in 2005.
