Since 2013, the research team here at Top40Weekly has been researching, analyzing and charting Top 40 songs with a goal to create the most comprehensive US Top 40 music archive available.
John Michaelson, Jarrett Nolan, and Stan Messmer together built the Top40Weekly archive site week-by-week, year-by-year to what it is today! Based on a point system for an artist’s chart performance on the Billboard charts, a ranking system (The Nolan Method) was developed by lead Top40Weekly contributor Jarrett Nolan.
The majority of our pages have been compiled using the Nolan Method. However, we have used multiple sources when compiling various interest pieces such as the Top 100 Lists. We are working daily to correct and fix each and every chart to make these pages 100% complete and 100% accurate.
Our goal is to present the most accurate archive of the US Top 40 music charts. These charts are meant for the public to use for research, entertainment and educational purposes only.
Nolan Method Explained
The Nolan Method was formulated by lead Top40Weekly contributor Jarrett Nolan.
Using an inverse point-based system, songs earn points for each position that they’re in within the Top 40. Songs at #1 earn 40 points all the way down to 1 point at #40.
A song can earn bonus points if it debuts on the chart within the Top 40. If a song debuts between #11 and #40, the corresponding points for that position would be double with 10 points added.
Example: A song entering the chart at #38, earns 3 points. This would be doubled to 6 points plus 10 making the total score for that week 16 points.
If a song debuts within the Top 10, its entry points would be doubled with 20 points added.
Example: A song debuts on the chart at #1 earning 40 points. The points are doubled to 80 plus 20 for entering in the top 10 giving the song a 100 total for that week.
Bonus points can only be earned on a song’s debut week within the 40.
How To Read Our Charts
Individual Chart Listing
Each week you will see the date, followed by a line that reads: “TW LW TITLE-Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak Position)”.
There are some charts missing an element or two of these details. These are charts we are still researching to finalize the accurate information.
TW (THIS WEEK)
This is the current week’s chart position.
LW (LAST WEEK)
This is the previous week’s chart position.
TITLE
This is the title of the record as it appeared on the original single release. This may vary depending on Billboard’s original listing.
ARTIST
This is the artist of the record originally as it appeared on the charts upon its initial release.
LABEL
This is the original record label according to its official release date.
WEEKS ON CHART
This is the complete weeks a specific record appeared on the entire Hot 100 charts. It is located immediately after (label)-#.
PEAK POSITION
This is where a specific record finally peaked on the Hot 100 charts before falling down the charts.
WEEKS AT #1
This is the number of weeks a specific song spent at #1 (of course only valid for #1 songs).
Weekly List Segments
Each week is cut into segments which include:
THE TOP 40 FOR THE WEEK ENDING
The complete Top 40 of that week, broken up in groups of 10. Each entry includes the current position, last week’s position, artist, title, weeks on charts, it’s peak position and record label (again, some labels are missing but are being added daily).
THIS WEEKS DROPS
These are the songs that fell off of the Top 40 for that week. In some cases this section will be empty, as the entirety of those songs fell completely off the Hot 100 for that week.
POWER PLAYS
These are songs that have risen the Hot 100 to land just outside of the Top 40 and are either potential Top 40 hits for the upcoming weeks, and, on occasion, recurrents that have a continuation through rising sales and airplay. Some of those have revisited the Top 40, while most of them do not.
NEW THIS WEEK
These songs debuted in the Hot 100 for that week. You can also see these debuts listed in chronological order at our companion sites.
A Special Thanks
We’d like to extend our thanks to those that have contributed though our community chat in helping us clean up all errors and mistakes and making these charts 100% accurate and complete.
Who We Are
Jarrett Nolan
(The Creator of “The Nolan Method” and Weekly Contributor of “Chart Commentary”)
I was born a poor Black child into a family that put the “fun” in dysfunction. But through that fun, there was A LOT of music. At a very young age, my parents introduced me to everything ranging from Doo Wop to the British Invasion to Motown to Philly Soul to Psychedlic Rock to Funk.
Since I’m a Jersey boy born-n-bred, I landed a job at WHTZ (Z100) as a producer. I gave the DJs info about artists to read on-air – most of mine were chart-related, naturally. I did double duty at WSBG, a small market radio station in the Poconos, as a DJ because I have a face for radio.
Through a random twist of fate, I wound up at BMG Distribution in Times Square. Shortly after, I ended up at Arista (shouldn’t have done that!). My career in the music industry ended with a stint at being a personal assistant to alterna-rap act PM Dawn.
I have not actively been working in the music industry since the mid-90s but my heart still belongs to it. I still follow the charts and lend a hand here at Top40 Weekly some 40 years later and I love it!
Ed Osborne
(Contributing Editor for “A Year in Music”)
Industry veteran Ed Osborne has been involved with music, personally and professionally, for his entire life.
In radio, he worked at the #1 FM radio station in the country — WCBS-FM in New York City — where he was
a runner-up in Billboard magazine’s national Air Personality of the Year competition. after a management stint with a major radio group,
Ed moved over to the music business as Executive Producer for BMG Special Products. Over the years, he created, produced, and/or wrote
liner notes for hundreds of music reissues. He is currently an independent consultant, His many projects have included researching, producing, and co-hosting Gettin’ Together with Tommy James for SiriusXM 60s on 6; and writing liner notes and featured artist essays for Time Life and StarVista LIve Cruises.
Harris Sterling
(Top40 Weekly Consultant)
Independent music label executive Harris Sterling has worked in the music industry for most of his career.
As Executive Vice President for independent music label Madacy Entertainment, he led the strategic marketing and business development for the label, negotiating agreements with the major record labels to release custom music compilations under license with major brands, such as Ford Motor Company, Crayola, Care Bears and Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Harris also led Madacy’s strategy for the licensing of its entire music catalogue to Apple for their launch of the IPOD.
In 2011, Harris co-founded Starting Five Media, a company that specializes in recording and licensing custom renditions of popular songs as well as clearing the rights to the music composition for use by their clients in media projects. http://www.startingfivemedia.com
Harris has negotiated publishing and master recording rights for many Top 40 songs for use in various media projects, TV Commercials and more. Examples of some of these recordings can be found here: http://www.startingfivemedia.com/our-work.html
If you have any questions or are interested in licensing a Top 40 song for any media project, contact Harris at [email protected] for a free consultation.
Contact Us
Many people live through music to sort out their memories, and these charts are a great place to start.
We’d like to hear from you what these charts mean to you, how you use them, or why you enjoy viewing them.
Please feel free to use the contact form below if you have any questions, comments, suggestions or you just want to reach out.
WEEKLY TOP 40 is an independent venture and in no way officially represents Billboard Magazine, CashBox, Radio & Record, American Top 40, or any published or broadcast media. As we cannot copyright or make claim to ownership of these charts, our work involved in the research and collecting of the information, and the posting online for public viewing, is our only claim of ownership. However, with that said, we do ask for, and would greatly appreciate credit for our work, should you use any of the material posted herein. Material posted within these pages are meant for research, educational and/or entertainment purposes only.