Abstract

This article studies the function of popularity charts in the production and distribution of popular music in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Using archival sources of Irving Berlin’s music company to gain insight into how a leading songwriter and music publisher made repertoire decisions in the face of uncertain demand, the article argues that the charts did not reflect to music providers what the people would buy tomorrow but helped coordinating their actions with other actors across the music business. Against a sketch of song-plugging on Tin Pan Alley, the article traces the rise of the airplay charts in 1930s radio, the establishment of the Peatman-Index as industry standard in 1945, and its demise by record charts from the mid-1950s. Doubts about the veracity of quantified popularity and critique of chart manipulation were a constant feature of this development, and yet, music providers like Berlin continued to use them for guidance. This illustrates that self-referential charts may create facts that limit listeners’ choices, while not impeding on recipients’ ability to making their own meaning of what is being offered to them.