Tag Archives: Hit Music

Rhode Island DJ Music Chart – Week of 6/25

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Macklemore and Ryan Lewis “Can’t Hold Us” continues to top the DJ Music Charts for the fourth consecutive week. This particular chart is from DJ playlists nationwide and is different than the Billboard Hot 100, which has Robin Thicke “Blurred Lines” number 1. The top five of this week’s DJ Music Chart has Icona Pop, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake and Daft Punk all holding strong with Daft Punk “Get Lucky” reaching number 5 for the first time.

DJ Music Chart with Selena Gomez at Billboard Music Awards - Rhode Island Wedding DJ

DJ Music Chart for Week 6/25 – C.H.R Format

Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, Contemporary Hits, Hit List, Current Hits, Hit Music, Top 40, or Pop Radio) is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most often refers to the CHR/pop format. The term Contemporary Hit Radio was coined in the early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all musical genres such as pop music splintered into Adult contemporary, urban contemporary and other formats. The term Top 40 is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to pop music in general. The term has also been modified to describe Top 50; Top 30; Top 20; Top 10; Hot 100 (each with its number of songs) and Hot Hits radio formats, but carrying more or less the same meaning and having the same creative point of origin with Todd Storz as further refined by Gordon McLendon as well as Bill Drake. Omnilexica.com

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What is your current favorite song on the DJ Music Chart this week?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

Rhode Island DJ Music Chart – Week of 6/10

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This weeks DJ Music Chart has Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on top again with “Can’t Hold Us”. This is their second number hit this year along with “Thrift Shop”. The rest of the top five of this DJ Music Chart has just switched order from last week with Justin Timberlake, Pink, Icona Pop and Selena Gomez.

Macklemore on Top of DJ Music Chart with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

DJ Music Chart Week of 6/10

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Contemporary Hit Radio, or CHR, focuses on playing new hit songs and a limited play list. In recent years, heavily researched mass appeal oldies have joined the mix.
Modern CHR is a derivative of the Top 40 radio format that dominated the radio landscape in its heyday, the 1960s. A pure CHR format will play songs from a number of music genres including Pop, Rock, Urban and even Country. A CHR station picks the highest chart performing songs for its playlist and rotates, or repeats, the tunes in a very tight turnover that will often repeat the hottest songs every hour or two.

The Early History of the CHR Format

Early Top 40 radio, the precursor to today’s CHR format, found its foothold as TV began to dominate the media landscape and radio stations turned away from radio theater programs toward recorded music formats. Top 40 is exactly as it says it is – the top 40 hit songs of the day, targeted to a local audience. Top 40 also heralded the era of the Disk Jockey, and the local radio personality became the star along with the tight rotation of popular music. Early programming pioneers of Top 40 include Gordon McLendon, Rick Sklar and Todd Storz. The first Top 40 radio stations included, KOWH-Omaha, WABC-New York, KLIF-Dallas and KHJ-Los Angeles. Ham Chat Forum

What is your favorite song on the Current DJ Music Cart for Contemporary Hot Radio?

DJ Mystical Michael New Jersey & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

 

Rhode Island DJ Music Chart – Week of 6/3

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The DJ Music Chart for this week will be Contemporary Hit Radio for the week of June 5th. Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Pink still maintain spots in the top 5 but this week. Icona Pop and Demi Lovato join them with Selena Gomez right behind them at number 6 with “Come and Get It”.

DJ Music Chart - Week of 5/3 with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

What is the DJ Music Chart Contemporary Hit Radio?

No matter how the industry dresses it up, the audience recognizes it for what it is “Top 40.” The term Contemporary Hit Radio or “CHR” was coined during the late 1970s, early 1980s when radio programmers perceived a backlash against Top 40. During that decade Album Oriented Rock “AOR” stations began rising to prominence on the FM dial. Top 40 was perceived as a format for AM radio. Many saw the format as restrictive and expressed a preference for the free formats that were developing on the FM band.

Programmers chose to bring Top 40 to the FM band disguised as CHR.

 

The basic concept behind hit music stations is quite simple: Confine the playlist to those songs that are currently the fastest selling and most popular (sales being a barometer of popularity) This is the same approach that CHR’s forerunner, Top 40 employed. (Keith 1987, p. 59) So the industry calls it CHR, while the listening audience continues to call it what it is Top 40. It continues to be popular. The basic format element of shortening the playlist to the most popular songs have spread to all other formats.CHR/Top 40 is considered the oldest format. Many argue that Middle-of-the-Road “MOR” is older. While the form of radio known as MOR/Nostalgia predates CHR/Top 40, it was not seen as a format until after the development of Top 40.

CHR/Top 40 began developing around 1955 when Todd Storz and Bill Stewart at KOWH in Omaha Nebraska (see Format Developments) noticed that patron of a local bar played the same songs over and over. COM 418 Radio Programming and Production at the University of Delaware

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What is your current favorite on this week’s DJ Music Chart?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

Rhode island DJ Music Charts – Week of 5/28

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The DJ Music Chart the week of 5/28 will feature Country Music! Topping the DJ Music Chart this week in Country Music are Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Eric Church and Florida-Georgia Line.  All strong showings from artists that have sustained hits this last year with continued success within the Country Music genre and Top 40.

DJ Music Charts - Week of 5/28 with Rhode Island Wedding DJ åç- Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill

Country music is a genre of American popular music that began in the rural regions of the Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from southeastern American folk music and Western music. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles, and harmonicas.

The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music; it came to encompassWestern music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and sub genres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute in the United States.

DJ Music Charts – Week of 5/28 – Country Music

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Since Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift are on top collaborating, I thought this might be a fun tidbit to add to this week’s DJ Music Chart review.

“Tim McGraw” is a country song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records as Swift’s debut single and the lead single from Swift’s eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift. Swift wrote “Tim McGraw” during her freshman year of high school, knowing that she and her senior boyfriend, Brandon Borello, would break up at the end of the year when he left for college. The song was written about all the different things that would remind Borello of Swift and their time spent together, once he departed. “Tim McGraw” is musical interconnection of traditional and modern country music. Lyrically, the track lists items in order to associate a past relationship, one of them being country artist Tim McGraw‘s music.

The song was received with critical praise from music critics who complimented Swift’s vocal delivery. Some critics described it as tender, while others admired its professionalism. “Tim McGraw” performed well commercially. The track spent numerous of weeks upon both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs in the United States. It peaked at number 40 on the former and number six on the latter. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold more than one million copies since its release. The accompanying music video for “Tim McGraw”, directed by Trey Fanjoy, comprises flashbacks by Swift’s love interest, among cut-scenes that feature Swift writhing on a lake-bed. “Tim McGraw” was promoted by Swift on a radio tour and performances in numerous venues. Swift performed it while serving as opening act for various country artists’ concert tours. She also performed it as part of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour (2009–10).

What is your favorite current DJ Music Chart Hit from Country Music?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

Rhode Island DJ Music Chart – Week of 5/21

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This week’s DJ Music Chart is in the format of Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR). The top five songs are by Justin Timberlake, Pink, Macklemore, Rihanna and Demi Lovato with “Mirrors” on top of the DJ Music Chart the week of May 21, 2013
The following DJ Music Chart is based on MediaBase data and is updated weekly. MediaBase monitors more than 1500 radio stations 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, in the top 140 US metro markets. Prime Cuts Music

DJ Music Chart Week of 5/21 CHR Format

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DJ Music Chart – Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) Format

”  A station which plays a significant amount of current popular music, whether singles or album cuts. As it is no longer unusual for a single to remain on the charts for 30-40 weeks or longer, “current” refers to music released within the last year. A more accurate description for “CHR” would be “Current Hit Radio”. This format is the descendent of the Top 40 stations popular from the 50’s through the 80’s.

Although some CHR stations base their playlists on surveys of local record sales or phone requests, most rely on published charts such as the Billboard Hot 100. As of December, 1998, the Billboard Hot 100 chart began to include popular album tracks not commercially released as singles, and began weighing a song`s airplay three times as heavily as a song`s sales.  The Billboard Hot 100 chart is therefore a measure of which songs are being played on CHR stations which, in turn, base their playlists on Billboard`s Hot 100 chart.

Contemporary Hit Radio stations tend to concentrate on specific music styles, such as Rock or Urban, or a range of styles, such as Rock/Pop/Dance or R&B/Rap/Dance. Some CHR stations play a significant amount of hits released during the past ten or fifteen years, particularly if there are insufficient current hit releases which fall within the station’s stylistic range.” New York Radio Guide

DJ Music Chart with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

In plain English, CHR Format is Pop and Top 40 Radio Music, and the genre that compromise Top 40 typically. Which song is your current favorite form the DJ Music Chart this week?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

Rhode Island DJ Music Chart – Week of 5/13

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This week’s DJ Music Chart will be the Adult Contemporary DJ Music Chart the week of 5/13/2013. Good to see Lumineers “Ho Hey” on top of the DJ Music Chart.  I am surprised to see Taylor Swift “I Knew You Were Trouble” and Fun. “Some Nights” still near the top. I guess they still get requested often and played. I won’t lie, it is still strange for me to see Rod Stewart “She Makes Me Happy” on the charts. He has reinvented himself so any times, hard to know what Rod Stewart music actually is at this point.

DJ Music Chart with Fun Rhode Island Multicultural DJ

Here is a description of Adult Contemporary Radio Music from Wikipedia for those who are to familiar with the DJ Music Chart format.

The Adult Contemporary DJ music chart (formerly known as Easy Listening (1961–1962; 1965–1979), Middle-Road Singles (1962–1964), Pop-Standard Singles (1964–1965), Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (1979–1982) and Adult Contemporary Singles (1983–present)) is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and “lite-pop” radio stations in the United States. The dj music chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to Billboard by stations that are members of the Adult Contemporary radio panel. The chart debuted in Billboard magazine on July 17, 1961.

DJ Music Chart Adult Contemporary with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

The Billboard Easy Listening DJ music chart, as it was first known, was born of a desire by some radio stations in the late 1950s and early 1960s to continue playing current hit songs but distinguish themselves from being branded as “rock and roll” stations. Billboard had written articles about this trend during the time, and the magazine’s editors decided to publish a separate chart for these songs beginning in 1961. The magazine offered an “Easy Listening” programming guide beginning January 9, 1961, which continued until the numbered chart appeared in July. The first #1 song on the Billboard Easy Listening chart was “The Boll Weevil Song” by Brook Benton. From 1961 to 1965, this chart was compiled from the Billboard Hot 100 chart by removing songs that were deemed rock and roll by the magazine and re-ranking the remaining songs. For example, if the non-rock and roll records in the Hot 100 Top 10 were at #5, #6, and #9, then #5 would be #1 that week on the Easy Listening chart, #6 would be #2, and #9 would be #3. Beginning in 1965, the Easy Listening chart would begin to be compiled by a method similar to the one used for other Billboard singles charts: reported playlists from radio stations airing the format as well as sales data submitted by record stores. By the early 1990s, automatic song detection and barcode sales information had begun to be the norm for most of the Billboard charts, and currently the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks DJ music chart is compiled in much the same way as those for other radio formats.

The DJ Music chart was known as the Easy Listening chart until 1962, when it was renamed Middle-Road Singles. In 1964, the name changed again, this time to Pop-Standard Singles. After alternating the name of this chart twice more in less than a year, Easy Listening was again chosen as the chart name in 1965 when the change in compilation occurred. In April 1979, the Easy Listening chart officially became known as Adult Contemporary, and those two words have remained consistent in the name of the chart ever since.

In 1996, Billboard created a new DJ music chart called Adult Top 40, which reflects programming on radio stations that exists somewhere between “adult contemporary” music and “pop” music. Although they are sometimes mistaken for each other, the Adult Contemporary chart and the Adult Top 40 chart are separate charts, and songs reaching one chart might not reach the other. In addition, the term “hot AC” refers to another sub-genre of radio programming that is distinct from the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks DJ music chart as it exists today, despite the apparent similarity in name.

DJ Music Chart – Week of 5/13 – Adult Contemporary

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What is your favorite song form this DJ Music Chart?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

Rhode Island DJ Music Charts Week of April 29

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I thought it would be helpful to post the Weekly DJ Music Charts weekly to keep you up to date on what DJs are playing in America currently. The DJ Music Chart I will post weekly will be the Contemporary Hit Radio (C.H.R.) Chart. I may post other charts from time-to-time as well.

DJ Music Charts Week of April 29 with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, Contemporary Hits, Hit List, Current Hits, Hit Music, Top 40, or Pop Radio) is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most often refers to the CHR/pop format. The term Contemporary Hit Radio was coined in the early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all musical genres as pop music splintered into Adult contemporary,urban contemporary and other formats. The term Top 40 is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to pop music in general. The term has also been modified to describe Top 50; Top 30; Top 20; Top 10; Hot 100 (each with its number of songs) and Hot Hits radio formats, but carrying more or less the same meaning and having the same creative point of origin with Todd Storz as further refined by Gordon McLendon as well as Bill Drake. The format became especially popular in the sixties as radio stations constrained disc jockeys to numbered play lists in the wake of the payola scandal.

DJ Music Charts Week of April 29

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Pink “Just Give Me A Reason” is currently number 1 on Billboard Charts Hot 100 with Rihanna “Stay” right behind it, but they are reversed on these DJ Music Charts. Bruno Mars “When I Was Your Man” was number 1 the week before on Billboard Hot 100. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have two Top Ten Hits and holding strong.

What song is your current favorite on the DJ Music Charts?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

973.908.8147

 

 

DJ Lists Most #1 Hits on The Billboard HOT 100 All-Time By Artist

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Time to look at Billboard’s 50th Anniversary List of Top #1 Hits by Artist
20 – The Beatles First No. 1: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1964)

18 – Mariah Carey First No. 1: “Vision of Love” (1990)

13 – Michael Jackson First No. 1: “Ben” (1972)

12 – Madonna First No. 1: “Like a Virgin” (1984)

12 – The Supremes First No. 1: “Where Did Our Love Go” (1964)

11 – Whitney Houston First No. 1: “Saving All My Love for You” (1985)

10 – Janet Jackson First No. 1: “When I Think of You” (1986)

10 – Stevie Wonder First No. 1: “Fingertips – Pt. 2” (1963)

9 – Bee Gees First No. 1: “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (1971)

9 – Elton John First No. 1: “Crocodile Rock” (1973)

9 – Paul McCartney & Wings First No. 1: “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” (1973)

8 – The Rolling Stones First No. 1: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965)

8 – Usher First No. 1: “Nice and Slow” (1998)

I am not surprised The Beatles are on top, Michael Jackson #3 or Madonna  #4 but was not expecting Mariah Carey to be #2, 18 #1 hits is incredible! Really the rest of the list are all legends except Usher. Artists known throughout the world among many ages, genres and cultures.  If you integrate The Beatles, Paul McCartney & Wings, solo and other collaborations Paul’s collective accomplishments, he is totaling 33 #1 hits. I remember my father bringing home the ’45’ of “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  The B side in The UK was “This Boy” but in The USA it was “I Saw Her Standing There”, the copy I quickly ruined through overplay and youthful exuberance..

 

Half the top 8 were Motown artists; Michael & Janet Jackson, The Supremes and Stevie Wonder. It is interesting to view The Bee Gees as one recording artist since they experienced two completely separate ‘careers’ starting with the Folk Rock Hits beginning with “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” and reformed in the late 70’s with their Disco hits like “Night Fever” and Stayin’ Alive”.

 

It never would have occurred to me “Crocodile Rock” was Elton’s first #1 Billboard hit. I did some research and Honkey Chateau made it #1 in the album charts but no #1 single till “Crocodile Rock”.

 

Where is Elvis you ask? Good question! Elvis had 20 #1 hits but Billboard was celebrating their 50th Anniversary of The HOT 100, which was established in 1958, and he had 13 of those #1’s before The HOT 100 existed.

Which artists are you surprised are on the list and which did you think would be but aren’t?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Hey DJ: Just Play Good Music!

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One of the things that is a constant in the professional DJ and music business is the notion of ‘good music’.  When I am working with a new client to book their event, it is very common when asking them what kind of music do you want at your wedding or whatever the event is to get an answer similar to this, “Please play only good music!”.

 

First note is that I would not or any other professional DJ on purpose play ‘bad music’!

 

Second and more important is that the term ‘good music’ typically translates as; ‘music that I like’. Of course, there is no such thing as good or bad music really. It is just a matter of taste and for most people, the difference between a talented composer and someone who writes music while walking down the street is not distinguishable.

 

Example:  If you are about to perform a professional DJ gig with a crowd of young, rural high school students, their definition of what ‘good music’ is would probably be much different than that of a Professor of Music History at Princeton University. It is not that one of them is right and the other is wrong, it is just that ‘good music’ is subjective and not really an accurate means of defining what you like.

 

It is safe to say that since he has passed on, Michael Jackson has been raised to a level of recognition that few have enjoyed globally. Does this mean his music is ‘good’? Would the reverse also be true then? If an ultra-talented cellist who performs only for private audiences and has chosen not to record anything to be released nationally or globally, and not know by many expert true offocionados a creator of ‘bad music’?

 

When booking a professional DJ for your event, especially a wedding DJ, be very specific in what genres and exact songs you want to have played and when. It is your event and you should be the one who has chosen the main direction of the musical selections.

 

It is helpful to request music for your event like this; “We want Soul and R&B music from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, we do not like Modern R&B or Soul. We love Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Michael Jackson of course.” This is fairly clear without needing to spell out exactly which artists/songs you would be requesting.

 

This is not as helpful; “We like R&B and Soul.” This leaves a lot of room for misunderstanding, interpretation and possible confusion.

 

Be clear and concise in what you want at YOUR EVENT! Form there, an experienced professional DJ can follow along and creatively mix in what you requested, what your guests request at the event and what is working in real-time.

 

Remember: It is YOUR event and YOU get to choose the music. We just weave together the songs with the crowd and make it flow and create a unique and quality event for you.

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DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ