How to make Hold Me Closer chart

[LeglessJamie]

Hi everyone!

I was thinking that since in 4 days the first new song by Britney (and Elton) comes out since 6 years (!), it might be a good idea to sum up ideas and general rules about what charting works and how a song charts in general on the BillBoard Hot 100.

BUT FIRST LEMME MAKE 1 THING CRYSTAL CLEAR:

It doesn't have to be #1 and we can enjoy the song without a decent charting. HOWEVER, I think that it's such a lovely gift by Britney to even put out new music (when she multiple times said she doesn't want to work yet). The least we can do is make it a decent charting song as a sort of "thank you" towards her.

With that said...

 

How charting works:

Charting works with points. Points are accumulated by several different outlets. Think about radio, Spotify, iTunes, Youtube, .... each copy sold, each single view, stream, ... collects points towards that certain song title. Together these different sources will define where a song will land on the charts.

Now, I don't exactly know how the points system works but I believe it isn't evenly devided. Example: 10 radio airplays or 10 streams are not the same. 10 radio airplays, I believe, will have a higher points rate. Other Exhalers, feel free to correct and add more info and I'll update this as best as possible!

 

The rules for Spotify:

Spoiler

Please know that I am a Premium user of Spotify and I only know the rules of Spotify. My guess is that Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, ... all work the same and if not, please correct me.

 

There is a difference between free and premium users.

In order to count 1 copy sold, free users need to stream a song about 600 times while premium users 'only' need to stream a song 100 times in order to be count as 1 copy sold.

You also HAVE to play the song for at least 30 seconds long or the stream is NOT COUNTED!

You also can NOT just have the song on repeat all day as Spotify will filter those streams meaning a whole day of lost streams. Instead, create a playlist, add the song a couple of times and add, preferably, other shorter songs by Britney (Pretty Girls, Shattered Glass, ...) and stream that playlist the entire day instead. This way, streams will NOT be filtered. 

Be sure to NOT mute Spotify and keep it on medium tot high sound, multiple sources claim streaming while on mute (some even claim low sound doesn't count) doesn't count (even Kanye West confirmed this). My advice? Plug in your earphones all day and just have your playlist on repeat (this way you could even do it while you're asleep).

Some people claim favoritizing the song also helps from Spotify filtering your streams as some claim this gives a sign you're not a bot. This I don't know for sure but best to do this, it's Britney anyways. 

Another tip is for those that don't have much internet capaticity: download the song, turn off your wifi and use the rules above. Whenever you re-connect with Wifi, your data will be collected. Be sure to re-connect reguraly though.

 

We also could organize streaming parties encouring people to stream.

The rules of Youtube:

Spoiler

I personally don't know much about the rules of Youtube, other than many people claiming refreshing the page does NOT work in favor of views.

I've read it's best to have a few tabs open in your browser and surf to the video. Usually an audio only or a lyric video will be put online by the artist(s). There's also a Google extension of youtube re-play which adds the ability to automatically replay the song. I'd advice to NOT use this as I don't know whether those replays actually count.

Be sure to have at least streamed the video 30 seconds.

The rules of iTunes:

Spoiler

iTunes is pretty clear: buy the song and it counts. However, per account, you can only buy the song once at least for yourself... Many fanbases use the "gift" option to buy the song over and over again. I'd advice to ask your family, friends, ... everyone you know if they have an iTunes account and collect their mail address (you need that to gift a song) and gift away!

The rules of radio airplay:

Spoiler

Radio airplay is also pretty clear. Just MASSIVELY request the song on as many stations as possible! Radio airplay is still one of the MOST important ways of collecting points in orde to have a song chart. A song with milions of streams but no radio airplay is still able to fail a decent charting.

So install your radio station's app on your phone or get texting friday!

 

Speciality: TikTok:

While this doesn't count towards points, we all know this is the way to make a song go viral concluding into more streams/plays. So I say: get your best moves and TikTok away!

 

And at last:

Just because you're not from the USA doesn't mean your streams are useless. Requesting the song on the radio, streaming, ... in your own country all helps for the charts in your own country. I myself am not from the USA but I will definitely stream the sh.t out of the song till I can't stand the song anymore.

You could use a VPN to have your streams count towards the BillBoard Hot 100 however, I have read that VPN doesn't always work so I don't know whether it's true or false. Others, perhaps more IT specialists, feel free to educate me on this subject.

 

I will try to update this post if others correct me if I'm mistaken on some parts (I don't know everything) or simply add more information.

 

* I made this thread with all the best intentions as I only have the best for our girl.

 

[s&m]

We can’t 

[MomOfTheYear]

This is about America which is clearly the most important market for Brit. 

 

Youtube question - is it only the official audio/lyric video that counts or do fan created vids count too? I worry if only official count views could be effectively "wasted" if fans create hindreds of different lyric vids in week one...

 

In 2015/2016 we all did a mass request on Saturday nights on us radio. Is this still a thing? Total Request Live or something?? We were up against Fifth Harmony 

[LeglessJamie]

2 minutes ago, ItsBeanie****** said:

This is about America which is clearly the most important market for Brit. 

 

Youtube question - is it only the official audio/lyric video that counts or do fan created vids count too? I worry if only official count views could be effectively "wasted" if fans create hindreds of different lyric vids in week one...

 

In 2015/2016 we all did a mass request on Saturday nights on us radio. Is this still a thing? Total Request Live or something?? We were up against Fifth Harmony 

Great question! I tried to search about this matter and couldn't find a clear answer aside from somebody saying that fanmade videos have no rights to upload these which is a fact. Often these vids are either removed by Youtube with a strike to that user along but sometimes the vids stay and get adds of which the revenue goes to the artist and not yourself. I personally don't think they don't count as that would mean Youtube's AI alghoritm has to search hundreds of videos and counting them to the original.

But I could be wrong... best is just to pay attention to the official channels.

 

As for the total request thingy, I don't know as I'm not from the US(A) myself.