Drake ties the Beatles for most simultaneous Hot 100 hits thanks to disruptive marketing
Fifty one years ago the Beatles charted 14 songs simultaneously on the Hot 100. Today they share that title with Drake, the highly-likeable, easily-memeable rapper who's surprise mixtape "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" took social media by storm two weeks ago. The impressive feat comes with a few caveats; namely that the charts rulesets have changed significantly since the Beatles did it on April 11, 1964. Back then the chart was based around the sale of singles, today it is much more robust; an evolution that matches the dynamic nature of 2015's music industry. In 2005, the Hot 100 began to track digital downloads and since then several songs have been able to achieve 80-to-90 position jumps thanks to sudden digital availability. After that the chart's dynamics drastically changed. Billboard was tracking streaming data as early as 2007, and incorporate Spotify or YouTubed plays in 2013 -- It's the change the sparked the career of Baauer whose "Harlem Shake" topped the charts thanks to a highly viral meme.