Composition For most of its history, the Top 40 was based on sales figures of record stores. These were collected through telephone surveys. As of 1999, the
airplay of a limited number of radio stations was included. Between 2006 and 2014, download figures were added to the mix. They were removed again because supposedly, download sales could be easily manipulated by record companies or artists. As of February 2014, the chart is a combination of airplay, streaming, and social media trends. The more often a song gets played on the radio, the higher its ranking in the Top 40. To compute year-end chart positions, the weekly #1 positions get 40 points, the #2 positions get 39 points, etc. These weekly scores are then added up and sorted by single to determine the ranking.
Tipparade The
Tipparade, a 'bubbling under' chart for the Top 40, is based on sales, streaming, airplay, and recommendations from both the general public and the music industry. It started in 1967 as a random list of "tips" for the Top 40, compiled by Veronica's DJ's. It wasn't included in the Top 40 printed leaflet until 1970.
Rules There is a set of rules, of which some have existed since 1972, that has been maintained up until 2012. Some of these have been criticized as a hindrance. • Since late 1971, singles had to remain at least two weeks in the charts. If a single officially no longer belongs in the Top 40, these are placed at #40. • Example:
Missy Elliott's "
Lose Control": Remained for two weeks at #40 in the chart, because it did not sell enough and also wasn't played enough on the radio. • There have been two exceptions to this, though: In October 1994,
Pet Shop Boys' "
Yesterday, When I Was Mad" stayed in the charts for only one week due to an error in the compilation, and in late September 2007, Kus's "4 meiden" just didn't sell enough to stay in the charts for two weeks. • Since 1983, singles that move up in the chart by a large number of positions are assigned
superstip ("super bullet") status. These singles were not allowed to fall down in chart position in the following week. If a
superstip single had comparatively lower sales/airplay statistics a week later, it would remain stuck on the same chart position until the second week of drop, by which time it may appear as if it dropped hard in chart positions. • Example:
Guus Meeuwis's "Ik wil dat ons land juicht": The song entered the chart at #11 (
superstip), and rose up to #5 (
superstip again) in its second week. The following week it was meant to drop in chart position, but it remained in the #5 position. The following two weeks, it went from #5 to #39. Because of this rule, this single was the biggest fall down in the Top 40. However, this was not always the case. Sometimes singles with a
superstip status did drop, for example, if there's no room. • Up until 2005, there were no clear rules on when a single could re-enter the Top 40. Apparently, a song had to re-enter at least in the top 30 portions of the chart to be allowed back, which happened occasionally. In the case of re-issued singles, there were no rules whatsoever - these singles could re-enter anyway. Since the mid-2000s, new rules were implemented, meaning that only songs from recently deceased artists could return to the Top 40, such as songs from
Whitney Houston and
Michael Jackson, after their deaths in 2012 and 2009, respectively. Since 2012, regular tallied re-entries have started to occur again. During the
Christmas season, however, re-entries of older Christmas songs (such as
Wham!'s
Last Christmas) are ineligible to re-enter the Top 40, even if streaming and airplay activity would have otherwise positioned the song on the Top 40 chart. • Singles with
double A-side are listed separately in the Top 40; due to the (possible) different amount of airplay the two songs get. • Example:
Robbie Williams' first single off his 2005 album
Intensive Care was "
Tripping" with the B-side being "
Make Me Pure". While "Tripping" topped the chart by peaking at #1, "Make Me Pure" peaked at #15 in the Top 40. ==Records, milestones and achievements==