Alternative Songs

Alternative Songs (also called Alternative and formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs. The chart was introduced as a companion to the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and its creation was prompted by the explosion of alternative music on American radio in the late 1980s.

The chart is based solely on radio airplay. As of 2012, approximately 80 radio stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.^[1] Songs are ranked by a calculation of the total number of spins per week with its "audience impression", which is based upon exact times of airplay and each station's Arbitron listener data.

Many rock artists do not release commercial singles in the United States. Several popular songs which were not released as commercial singles did not qualify for the Hot 100 before December 1998, but performed very well on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

During the first several years of the chart, it regularly featured music that did not receive commercial radio airplay anywhere but on a few modern rock radio stations. This included many electronic and post-punk artists. Gradually, as alternative rock became more "mainstream" (particularly spearheaded by the grunge explosion in the early 1990s), the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts began featuring more of the same songs. Today, the Alternative chart favors more alternative rock, indie rock, and punk rock bands while the Mainstream Rock chart favors more hard rock, post-grunge and heavy metal.

The chart was renamed Alternative Songs beginning with the June 20, 2009 issue after Billboard fully absorbed Radio & Records, whose similar chart was called "Alternative" instead of "Modern Rock".^[2]

The first number-one song on the Modern Rock Tracks chart was "Peek-a-Boo" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The current number-one song, for the issue dated December 10, 2016, is "All We Ever Knew" by The Head and the Heart.^[3] The Red Hot Chili Peppers hold the record for most number-one songs at thirteen, a record they have held since 2011.

Chart achievements

• Artists with the most number-one songs:^[4]

Red Hot Chili Peppers (13)

Linkin Park (11)

Foo Fighters (10) (tie)

Green Day (10) (tie)

U2 (8)

Cage the Elephant (7)

• Artists with the most cumulative weeks at number one:

Red Hot Chili Peppers (86)

Foo Fighters (82)

Linkin Park (71)

Green Day (51)

Muse (45)

• Artists with the most top 10 songs:

Red Hot Chili Peppers (25)

U2 (23)

Foo Fighters (22)

Green Day (21)

Pearl Jam (19)

• Three songs have debuted at number one on this chart:

"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" by R.E.M. (1994)

"Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2006)

"What I've Done" by Linkin Park (2007)

• No single act has replaced themselves at number one, although when "All My Life" by Foo Fighters replaced "You Know You're Right" by Nirvana on November 23, 2002, giving back-to-back chart-toppers to musician Dave Grohl.
• Dave Grohl has made the top of this chart with a record of four different bands: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Nine Inch Nails.
• Linkin Park's 2003 album Meteora has generated the most number one modern rock hits, with five.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers' album Californication and Linkin Park's album Meteora have generated songs with the highest total number of weeks spent at number one, each with thirty weeks total.
• The song that has taken the longest time to reach number one is "Out of My League" by Fitz and The Tantrums (33 weeks)^[5] in 2013, followed by "Animal" by Neon Trees in 2010 and "Mountain at My Gates" by Foals in 2016 (both 32 weeks), "1901" by Phoenix (31 weeks) in 2010, "Feel Good Drag" by Anberlin (29 weeks) in 2009, and "Wasteland" by 10 Years (27 weeks) in 2006.
• Jane's Addiction has had the longest time between number-ones (13 years), with "Been Caught Stealing" (1990) and "Just Because" (2003).
• The band to have the most charted songs without reaching number one is Korn, with 21.
• The band with the most charted songs is U2 with 41, followed by Pearl Jam with 39. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and Green Day are tied for third with 31.
• Any song with 20 or more chart weeks to not see any significant gains to chart below No. 15 are retired to recurrents (prior to December 2009, the threshold was at No. 20). Any song with 52 or more chart weeks to chart below No. 10 with no significant gains are retired.
• The following songs have charted for over 52 weeks on the list:

"Savior" by Rise Against (65 weeks)^[6]

"First" by Cold War Kids (64 weeks)

"Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys (58 weeks)

"1901" by Phoenix (57 weeks)

"Uprising" by Muse (53 weeks) – Uprising slipped out of the top 10 the week after its 52nd week, then returned for its 53rd and final week at #10.

• The following songs have spent 52 weeks on the list:

"The Kill" by Thirty Seconds to Mars

"Face Down" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

"Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven

"Feel Good Drag" by Anberlin

"Animal" by Neon Trees

"Trojans" by Atlas Genius

"Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons

"Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities

"Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood

"Out of My League" by Fitz and The Tantrums

"Pompeii" by Bastille

"Dangerous" by Big Data featuring Joywave

"Stolen Dance" by Milky Chance

• Fourteen songs released on an independent record label have reached number one on this chart: "Come Out and Play" by The Offspring, "What It's Like" by Everlast, "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups, "1901" by Phoenix, "Lay Me Down" by The Dirty Heads featuring Rome Ramirez, "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons, "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers, "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons, "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys, "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)" by Awolnation, "The Sound of Winter" by Bush, "First" by Cold War Kids, "Ophelia" by The Lumineers and "Bored to Death" by Blink-182.^[7][8]
• Although Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" did not hit number one on the chart where it only peaked at number two on July 2, 1994,^[9] it actually became the Modern Rock Tracks year-end number one single of 1994,^[10] the only song to do so without ever being number one on the weekly chart.
• In August 2013, Lorde became the first woman to top the Alternative Songs chart since Tracy Bonham in 1996 when her song "Royals" reached the top of the chart in August 2013,^[11] the second woman to do the same was Elle King with her song "Ex's & Oh's" which reached the top of the chart in September 2015.^[12] In September 2013, Lorde surpassed Alanis Morissette to become the woman with the longest-running single at number one on the Alternative Songs chart when "Royals" spent its sixth week at number one.^[13]
• Thirty-three songs have spent ten weeks or longer at number one.^[14] These are:

19 weeks

"Madness" – Muse (2012–13)

18 weeks

"The Pretender" – Foo Fighters (2007)

17 weeks

"Uprising" – Muse (2009–10)

16 weeks

"Scar Tissue" – Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)

"It's Been Awhile" – Staind (2001)

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" – Green Day (2004–05)

15 weeks

"Sex and Candy" – Marcy Playground (1997–98)

"What I've Done" – Linkin Park (2007)

14 weeks

"By the Way" – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002)

"Dani California" – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2006)

13 weeks

"Otherside" – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)

"How You Remind Me" – Nickelback (2001)

"Rope" – Foo Fighters (2011)

"Radioactive" – Imagine Dragons (2013)

12 weeks

"Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" – Fuel (2000–01)

"Numb" – Linkin Park (2003)

"New Divide" – Linkin Park (2009)

"Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra (2012)

"Stressed Out" – Twenty One Pilots (2015–16)

11 weeks

"My Own Worst Enemy" – Lit (1999)

"Kryptonite" – 3 Doors Down (2000)

"Pork and Beans" – Weezer (2008)

"You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" – The Offspring (2008)

"Lay Me Down" – The Dirty Heads featuring Rome Ramirez (2010)

"Lonely Boy" – The Black Keys (2011–12)

"Sweater Weather" – The Neighbourhood (2013)

"Fever" – The Black Keys (2014)

"Renegades" – X Ambassadors (2015)

"Heathens" – Twenty One Pilots (2016)

10 weeks

"Wonderwall" – Oasis (1995–96)

"All My Life" – Foo Fighters (2002–03)

"Tighten Up" – The Black Keys (2010–11)

"Come a Little Closer" – Cage the Elephant (2013–14)

"Do I Wanna Know?" – Arctic Monkeys (2014)

"Stolen Dance" – Milky Chance (2014)

See also

• List of number one alternative hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart

References

1. "The charts" (fee required). The Sun Herald. 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
2. Gary Trust (2009-06-10). "Chart Beat: Pink, Black Eyed Peas, Shinedown". Billboard. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
3. "Alternative Songs – December 10, 2016". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 3, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
4. Rutherford, Kevin (November 2, 2016). "Green Day Earns 10th Alternative Songs No. 1 with 'Bang Bang'". Billboard. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
5. Trust, Gary (September 30, 2013). "Chart Highlights: Rihanna Returns, Fitz And The Tantrums Rule Rock, Yandel Leads Latin Airplay". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
6. "Rise Against - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2013-09-29.
7. Trust, Gray. "Kenny Chesney Scores A Perfect 10". Billboard. Archived from the original on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
8. Bush Back Atop Alternative Songs With Self-Released 'The Sound of Winter'. Billboard. Retrieved on 2013-08-25.
9. "Modern Rock Tracks". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 106 (27): 102. July 2, 1994. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
10. Macdonald, Patrick (December 23, 1994). "Music Notes". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
11. "Lorde First Woman in 17 Years to Top Alternative with 'Royals'". Billboard (magazine). 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
12. White, Emily (September 8, 2015). "Elle King Is Just Second Woman to Top Alternative Songs Chart in Two Decades". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
13. "Lorde Links Longest Alternative Songs Reign By A Woman With 'Royals'". Billboard (magazine). 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
14. "Muse's 'Madness' Rewrites Record For Longest-Reigning Alternative Songs No. 1". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 11, 2013.

External links

• Billboard.com - This week's Alternative Songs