Print edition charts (1942–1996) Cashbox was one of several magazines that published
record charts in the United States. Its most prominent competitors were
Billboard and
Record World (known as
Music Vendor prior to April 18, 1964). Unlike
Billboard,
Cashbox combined all currently available recordings of a song into one chart position with artist and label information shown for each version, alphabetized by label. Originally, no indication of which version was the biggest seller was given, but from October 25, 1952, a star was placed next to the names of the most important artists.
Cashbox also printed shorter jukebox charts that included specific artist data beginning in spring 1950. Separate charts were presented for
jukebox popularity,
record sales, and radio
airplay. This process was similar to
Billboards methodology prior to August 1958, when
Billboard debuted its "
Hot 100," which attempted to combine all measures of popularity into one all-encompassing chart. In addition,
Cashbox published chart data for specific genres, such as
country music and
rhythm and blues (R&B) music. In 1960,
Cashbox discontinued its R&B chart after the March 5 issue; it was reinstated in the December 17 issue due to popular demand. The chart was originally dropped because it became dominated by
pop records.
Cashbox was a competitor to
Billboard through the 1950s and 1960s, but two factors spelled its decline in the 1970s. Archivist and record historian
Joel Whitburn published his first research book based on the
Billboard Hot 100, which made those data the "Bible" for official historic chart positions. In addition, the syndicated radio series
American Top 40 with
Casey Kasem used
Billboard chart statistics, cementing
Billboard as the dominant chart data for current and historic reference.
Revived magazine (2006–present) Cash Box was reinvented as the monthly online
Cashbox Magazine in 2006, with the consent and cooperation of the family of Albert, the late president and publisher of the original edition.
Cashbox has bimonthly print editions available by mail subscription. ,
Cashbox Magazine has added the following music charts: Roots Music,
Bluegrass Singles, Bluegrass
Gospel Singles, Beach Music Top 40, Roadhouse Blues and Boogie Top 40, Country Christian Top 100 Singles, and
Southern Gospel Singles. The online magazine also relaunched the Looking Ahead Charts on March 1, 2015, covering all genres of music. The
Cashbox Top 100 has been expanded to the Top 200. All chart data for the main
Cashbox charts are provided by Digital Radio Tracker. Sandy Graham is the owner, editor-in-chief, and CEO of
Cashbox Canada, an independent music trade publication in
Toronto, Canada. Shane and Robert Bartosh control the Roots data. Bruce Elrod is the owner and remains the registered agent for
Cashbox, which is now operated from
Ridgeway, South Carolina. The current owners of
Cashbox met with Wilds & Associates co-founder and CEO Randall Wilds in 2018 to discuss business relations. Wilds acquired an interest in
Cashbox Magazine, leading to the formation of a partnership. As a result, Wilds & Associates became the publisher for
Cashbox. While the digital/online edition remains intact,
Cashbox returned to a printed edition as a bimonthly publication beginning with their November/December 2018 issue, featuring country music artist
Blake Shelton on the cover. In addition to being the publisher for
Cashbox, Wilds & Associates also serves as the distributor of the publication. Since returning to a print edition, a new website was unveiled in late 2021. The new site Randy Price maintains the original
Cash Box data for the online archives. The
Swem Library at
the College of William and Mary maintains the archive of the original print editions of
Cash Box magazine. The print editions were digitized in collaboration with the Internet Archive, via a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources. ==Charts described==