FIRST OFF . . .

Nashville police are investigating a theory that the murder of a Cash Box magazine researcher may have been linked to the manipulation of country music charts, the Nashville Tennesseean reported Sunday. Kevin Hughes, 23, who compiled the charts for the magazine, was fatally shot last month on Nashville’s Music Row as he approached his car. Police believe Hughes’ attacker might have been a professional hit man, the newspaper reported, and homicide detectives are investigating the possibility that Hughes may have been killed because he knew the Cash Box charts were being manipulated or because he refused to tamper with them. Police have found no direct evidence linking the murder to the country music business. Music Row promoter Bill Wence said he had 9 or 10 calls the day after Hughes was killed. “All of them thought he was hit,” Wence told the paper. “I believe that kid was killed because he knew things about Cash Box.” Cash Box charts, along with the more closely watched Billboard record charts, measure the popularity of records, and high chart position can mean substantial financial gains for performers and record companies. George Albert, president and publisher of Hollywood-based Cash Box, said he did not know why investigators were pursuing possible chart manipulation. “I can’t understand this whole thing. I don’t know why the police or you or anybody else are going into a story that is something that nobody, or that we, know anything about,” Albert told a reporter for the newspaper.