TopHit is a
social network-like internet platform for aggregating, distributing and promoting digital music content. Authors, artists, producers and
record labels upload their works to TopHit website. Music radio stations and TV channels examine uploaded songs and are able to download the ones they find suitable for airing. Representatives of labels watch new artists and songs using TopHit to determine most interesting ones to work further with them. The website's own automated service
TopHit Spy is aimed to monitor music broadcast at partner radio stations and to generate statistics of aired music. This data is used to form summary radio charts. As well, similar charts for
YouTube and
Spotify are available. Detailed play statistics for each song are given to rights holders — artists, authors, publishers and labels.
Formation of the TopHit content database Producers and rights holders of musical content, upon registering with TopHit, upload their new works, phonograms and
music videos to the platform. The TopHit content database is organized into two primary sections:
Music Arrivals (featuring 600–800 successfully tested new releases from the past two months) and
Golden Hits (comprising over 200,000 radio hits from the past 30 years). Approximately 60% of these songs are in English, while the remainder are performed in Russian, Spanish, German, Romanian, Ukrainian, Korean, and other languages.
Testing new songs Since 2009, TopHit has introduced online testing of all music arrivals. On the
Homepage and the
Music Arrivals page of TopHit, all new songs undergo testing. The testing procedure consists of listening to a short demo version of a new track and then giving a "like" or "dislike" rating. When forming a track's rating, TopHit considers both the song's parameters and the profiles of the radio stations or labels evaluating it. Ratings from radio stations, streaming platforms, and labels carry the most weight. After 2–3 days of testing, each track receives a rating on a 10-point scale. The primary goal of testing is to help creators and rights holders objectively assess the potential of their hits before release and to select those for further promotion that have received the best feedback and ratings from music industry and media pros. All preliminary song ratings on TopHit have a limited "shelf life." If a track does not get airplay on the radio or gain traction on the internet within six months after testing on TopHit, its "test" rating is reset. Subsequent ratings will only increase based on the accumulation of radio airplay,
YouTube views, and streams on platforms like
Spotify. Therefore, the highest ratings ultimately belong to tracks that have garnered the most radio airplay, YouTube views, and Spotify streams.
Song distribution and artist promotion Promising tracks are downloaded by radio stations, added to their music libraries, and placed into rotation. Authors, artists, and labels can view detailed statistics on radio station activities concerning their content. Label representatives use TopHit charts and music statistics to monitor the emergence of interesting new music and performers. They then reach out to the artists' representatives to discuss potential collaboration opportunities.
Monitoring airplay: TopHit Spy TopHit Spy is an automated airplay monitoring system designed to identify the most frequently played songs. Operating 24/7 in real-time, TopHit Spy tracks the broadcasts of over 2,500 radio stations across 45 countries and collects streaming statistics from Spotify and YouTube. The data gathered by TopHit Spy provides authors, performers, and rights holders on TopHit with detailed airplay and streaming statistics for their works and recordings. Additionally, it generates comprehensive airplay and streaming charts.
TopHit Music Charts Based on the data collected, TopHit publishes airplay and streaming charts for the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. The platform also releases consolidated charts reflecting airplay and streaming statistics from all the countries where TopHit operates, including data from YouTube and Spotify. TopHit charts are categorized into Radio Charts, YouTube Charts, Spotify Charts, and the All Media Chart, which uses both airplay and streaming data. Chart positions can represent tracks/videos (singles chart) or artists (artists chart). Charts on TopHit are updated on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and decadal basis. Subscribers to TopHit have access to reports (charts) for individual radio stations, extended charts with up to 500 positions, and charts for ongoing periods, such as the current week, month, and year. The
TopHit Golden Hits section (music archive) is formatted as a consolidated chart of the most popular singles of the 21st century.
Chart milestones •
Dima Bilan and
David Guetta are found to be the most aired musicians. They each have over 30 million of registered airplays. •
MakSim is the only singer in the chart's history, who has had four number one songs within a calendar year ("Отпускаю", "Знаешь ли ты", "Ветром стать", "Мой рай" in 2007). • MakSim has had seven consecutive number one hits, which is considered an unbreakable record for other artists. •
Elka is the only artist to have topped the Annual General Chart twice and Annual Russian Chart three times on Tophit. • Elka is the only Russian artist who topped all of the Tophit charts simultaneously, in 2010–2011. • "
Provence", performed by Elka, spent 109 weeks on Tophit General 100. •
Yulia Savicheva is the only artist to self-replace at the top of Tophit Audience Choice Chart. • "
Love You Like a Love Song" by
Selena Gomez & the Scene holds the record as the longest-running chart-toper of the Tophit single chart, spending 20 weeks at the first spot. ==Top Hit Music Awards==