BIBLE'S CHART DRAMA CONTINUES

The Bible’s chart saga continues, as it’s announced that chart information is “currently unavailable” this week in the wake of the 6ix9ine-Travis Scott chart battle mess and legal wrangling heats up around the result.

The following message appeared on the Nielsen site:

Notice: The Charts and all chart related features are currently unavailable for Week 48 2018 forward. This functionality will return soon.

Week 48 ended on 11/29, the week in which #1 has been in dispute between Travis Scott and 6ix9ine. After withdrawing its initial chart with Travis Scott at #1, Nielsen has not yet released “corrected” numbers for last week. Without publishing a chart for Week 48, Nielsen is unable to publish this week’s numbers with a week over week trend or ranking.

Oh, brother. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

We’re told real lawsuits—with real litigators—were threatened last Friday in a series of meetings between Sony, Billboard, Nielsen and Create Music Group (the distributor of 6ix9ine’s Dummy Boy) over Nielsen’s inability to supply accurate backup for all DSPs, especially Tidal and SoundCloud. Given that they already went to press with Travis Scott at #1, how could they possibly make it up to 6ix9ine? Meanwhile, Atlantic must also be furious, as Meek Mill isn’t getting the publicity he deserves for debuting at #1.

WTF is going on at Nielsen? They have a huge reputation to protect but aren’t giving up the details. Now is the time for the labels to insist on full transparency, including detailed reports for ALL accounts. Stop dumping multiple reporters into “other” strata. Labels can’t even get their own numbers for many accounts. Is UMG’s contract with Nielsen still month to month?

Who’s the wheel of this debacle? The methodology has never been this messed up—where are Bill Wardlow or even John “Boombox Boy” Amato? The current bunch is more clueless than ever.