Billboard changes ranking system

Billboard, the influential music industry trade magazine, is changing the way it ranks songs on its country singles chart.

Until this month, a song’s position on the weekly Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart was determined by the number of spins, or plays, it received on 122 radio stations monitored by Billboard.

But beginning with Billboard’s Jan. 15 issue, songs on the country chart will be ranked by audience impressions, or the number of people who actually hear it.