Anyway, are the SoundScan numbers publicly available or do we have to rely on Ken Barnes for that?

SoundScan numbers are not legally publicly available. They are copyrighted (or something). SS has been known to send out cease and desist orders to sites that leak them. But, there are sites that leak them (please don’t name them here; the fewer the references the less likely those sites will get letters).

Ken Barnes is permitted by SS to publish numbers based on a set of rules he follows (only three significant digits and nothing under 100). Subscribing to SS is actually very expensive and even USA Today doesn’t have a subscription (he gets them from some guy he knows).

When I checked itunes top songs earlier today, ToML had bounced back up to #43. (Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean increased sales, but still…. More data….)

Anyway, are the SoundScan numbers publicly available or do we have to rely on Ken Barnes for that?

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s disturbing how happy that single sentence just made me.

Me too. Being without data bothers me. I also am in throe to Ken Barnes’ numbers.

However, according to a decision made by the Mediabase management, the charts will be available to the general public after August 1, 2008.

It’s disturbing how happy that single sentence just made me.

Towards the end of 2007, Mediabase began considering switching to a subscriber-only format on its website. On May 15, 2008, it was decided that the Mediabase airplay charts would be available only to paid subscribers only for a temporary period, starting in July. On July 10, 2008 only paid subscribers were able to view the charts. However, according to a decision made by the Mediabase management, the charts will be available to the general public after August 1, 2008. Even though a password would be required to access the charts, registering would be free of cost and open to everyone, not just those in the radio and music industry.

I’m not sure if that has been posted here yet, but since this is the Mediabase chart, it seems relevant. So, we may be able to return to the full charts in a few weeks.

Ha! Just like Clark Kent and Supermanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦never seen posting on the same board at the same timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

LOL.

Actually I credit (or should that be blame?) Kristen, along with Ken Barnes, for helping fuel my stats addiction.

Oops. Sorry! I love them stats and finding out all those little interconnections. Glad you are having fun with them too. Thanks for putting me in the same sentence as the amazing Mr. Barnes.

And thanks for the clarification on R&R, Kristen – I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t realize Billboard had bought them out.

R&R used to report the Mediabase numbers until it was purchased by Billboard and then it switched to Nielsen’s BSD monitoring service.

lol! There was a time when I wondered if you, Kirsten, and you, ladymadonna, were the same person, because Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d see one of you here and one of you at TWOP and you reported many of the same juicy statistics. But unless à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  talking to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“yourself,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  I guess not, huh? I appreciate both of you!

Ha! Just like Clark Kent and Superman…never seen posting on the same board at the same time…

Actually I credit (or should that be blame?) Kristen, along with Ken Barnes, for helping fuel my stats addiction. And thanks for the clarification on R&R, Kristen – I didn’t realize Billboard had bought them out.

Trina, R&R is a trade publication similar to Billboard, but it focuses primarily on radio airplay instead of sales.

Actually, R&R is now owned by Billboard. It’s targeted towards those in the music industry as opposed to the general public.