Americana Radio Airplay Charts

FAQs

How can I sign up to receive the Americana Radio Airplay Charts via email?

What are the Americana Radio Airplay Charts?

There are two monitored Americana Airplay charts; a song-based Singles Chart and an Albums Chart. The software company, CDX TRACtion, monitors each radio station through the online stream of their signal to get their actual weekly spin counts for each album and each track. View reporting stations here. The monitored airplay charts will provide an accurate representation of all Americana albums and song tracks played by our radio reporters. All artist recordings will be fingerprinted into the CDX/Americana radio airplay database. The most expeditious way for albums and tracks to be fingerprinted is to engage CDX to handle the digital radio distribution - learn more here.

How do I submit singles and albums to the charts if I am an independent artist?

If you are an independent artist that is going to service your album to the Americana radio station reporting panel, your album will need to be "fingerprinted" in the CDX/Americana radio database. CDX TRACtion is your one-stop service for digital radio distribution and tracking services. CDX TRACtion only recognizes detections on songs that have been “fingerprinted.” The fastest, easiest and most effective way to get your albums to the radio stations and "fingerprinted" for the chart data-tracking system is with CDX TRACtion. This cost efficient method is the best way to service your music to radio without incurring postal costs for mailings. Please click here for details and pricing. Songs or albums serviced to Americana Radio through CDX digital distribution are "fingerprinted" automatically. The Americana Music Association® does not distribute music to stations. 

If you have a direct question about radio development at the Americana Music Association, please send your email to Michele Rhoades at m.rhoades@americanamusic.org.

Can I purchase advertisements on the Americana Radio Airplay Charts?

Yes! You can learn more about radio ad opportunities here. To inquire about ad space, please email Michele Rhoades at m.rhoades@americanamusic.org.

How can I purchase a tracking subscription to CDX TRACtion?

Please contact Joe Kelly (joe@cdxnashville.com) at CDX for tracking subscription information.

How does my radio station become an Americana Radio Airplay reporter?

To become an Americana Radio Airplay reporter, please complete this form. You will need the following information:

-Radio station call letters
-City and state of the radio station
-Link to station's broadcast stream
-Station's broadcast radius
-How many hours of Americana music is broadcast each week and on which days (It is recommended that each station broadcast between 12-18 hours of Americana music per week)
-Copy of a current playlist

How do radio stations gain access to view the CDX TRACtion software system?

All Americana radio station reporters were initially sent an invitation from CDX inviting them to view the CDX TRACtion software system so that the monitored station reporters can log in, create an account, and begin using the tracking software as a programming tool. 

How are reporting radio stations monitored?

Reporting stations are monitored through the online stream of their signal and must maintain a 90% uptime percentage weekly to avoid being automatically frozen for the week. If the radio station's stream goes down for more than 10% during the seven (7) day reporting period, that station will be reported as frozen and the previous week's detection data will be used for that station and be used in the chart calculations. If the station has a frozen report for three (3) consecutive weeks, the station may be removed from the reporting panel until the station's stream is fully back up for a week's time. Monitored stations should promptly inform the Americana Music Association or CDX at any time their streaming service provider or online stream address changes to minimize the monitoring disruption that such a change will cause.

What is the Americana Radio Charts reporting period?

Each Americana radio station reporter will be monitored over a seven (7) day period from Tuesday morning at 12:01 AM to the following Monday at 11:59 PM.

What is the Recurrent Policy and Methodology for the Americana Radio Albums Chart?

A newly fingerprinted album is allowed 20 weeks to debut on the Top 50 chart. If the album does not debut on the chart by its 20th week, it is moved to recurrent. Once an album debuts in the Top 50, it is guaranteed "current" status for at least 18 consecutive weeks. In the 18th week following its debut on the Top 50 (and every week thereafter), if the album has fallen out of the Top 50 it is moved to recurrent. If the album continues to chart in the Top 50 after 18 weeks, it is moved to recurrent once it experiences two consecutive weeks of spin and chart position loss and simultaneously fails to meet a required spin threshold. When an album goes recurrent, all of the tracks associated with that album also go recurrent with the exception of any active tracks on the Top 50 Americana Singles chart that do not meet the recurrent conditions for singles. Singles that remain current after an associated album goes recurrent will continue to be subject to the Top 50 Singles chart recurrent policy on an ongoing basis. There is no separate policy governing albums or singles in the Top 10. All actual detections for recurrent singles will still count towards the spins totals of a current album. In order for an album title to be eligible for the Americana Music Association's album airplay chart, all tracks from the entire album must be sent in to be put in the database. If multiple singles are sent in, they will only be able to chart on the singles chart.

What is the Recurrent Policy and Methodology for the Americana Radio Singles Chart?

According to the Singles Chart policy and methodology, once a single enters the Top 50 it is protected until after 5 weeks of appearing in the Top 50, although not necessarily consecutive weeks (the single might appear 5 times over the course of 9 weeks). It is possible for a single to enter in and out of the Top 50 while it is gaining its legs, but starting on its 6th chart appearance the policy goes strictly performance based and any singles which then meet all of the following criteria will automatically go recurrent. Recurrent policy for a single occurs when current spins fail to meet a required spin threshold (65% of peak spins), there are two consecutive weeks of chart position decline and there are two consecutive weeks of spin decline.

What is the policy for “Expanded” and “Deluxe” albums?

In the event that an expanded or deluxe album with new tracks is released for a previously monitored album, the title of the original album in the CDX system will be updated to include an “expanded” or “deluxe” designation and the repertoire attached to the album will be “upgraded” to include any newly added recordings. The status of the album as a “current” or “recurrent” at the time of the upgrade shall remain unchanged. If the album status is “current,” all spins from both current and recurrent singles attached to the album, as well as spins from the newly added repertoire will all count towards the spin totals of the newly upgraded album. If an album is already recurrent, all of the album tracks that are already recurrent shall remain so and all of the newly added tracks will be eligible for the Singles Chart as currents (subject to the existing Singles Chart policies) with all spins from both current and recurrent singles counting towards the spin totals of the recurrent (but now upgraded) album. Upgrading albums in this way will allow the “deluxe” or “expanded” editions to inherit the original album’s release-to-date chart spins for recurrent chart and end-of-year chart reporting, rather than dividing the chart spins between two separate releases.

What is the policy for Compilations, Live Albums, or Greatest Hits packages?

The decision to monitor airplay for compilations, live albums, or greatest hits packages for the Americana Radio Album Chart is left solely to the discretion of the Americana Music Association.  As a rule, tracks submitted for monitoring should be new recordings or airplay focus tracks and not include any previously released music, including recordings with previous notoriety or chart successes and/or singles that have appeared on the Americana Radio charts since 2017.  In the event that these types of album releases are accepted for inclusion on the Americana Radio Album chart, no more than 20 recordings that meet this criteria will be accepted for airplay monitoring.