Confirmed: Radiohead Landed On Charts Because of Remix Tracks (Updated)

On Thursday, we pointed out that Radiohead's "Nude" made the Billboard Hot 100 because the band released individual track stems for vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and strings/effects that counted towards sales totals for the mixed-together song. Nielsen SoundScan numbers reveal that this was in fact the case.

Idolator, which has access to Nielsen's SoundScan's numbers (Nielsen owns Billboard), breaks down how each element of "Nude" sold on iTunes in the first week they were available.

According to Idolator's Chris Molanphy,

The original song sold just under 13,000 copies, and each of thefour stems sold between about 9,200 and 9,800 copies. (If you'recurious: the vocal stem sold best, then guitars, strings/effects,
drums; as in life, bass pulls up the rear.) Total sales for all sixpieces combined were just shy of 60,000.

Molanphy concludes that "[i]f the original song, sans stems, were to chart by itself, it wouldhave made No. 96 on the digital sales chart and likely would havemissed the Hot 100 entirely."

There we have it: Radiohead made the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since 1996 because the remix stems for "Nude" counted towards sales totals for the song.

I don't think there's anything wrong with this. Note to bands andlabels: If you release the elements of your songs for remixing(even non-commercial remixing), not only will you have more items tosell in iTunes, but your songs could chart much higher, leading to yet further revenue.

Unless Billboard changes its methodology, bands that do not release remixable tracks
are putting themselves at a disadvantage in at least three ways: reducedfan participation, less sales revenue and lower chart positions.

Update: Billboard considers the stems to be remixes of the track, and when choosing the Hot 100 tracks, its standard approach is to count remixes towards the tally for the original song. Hot 100 director Silvio Pietroluongo explained:

Billboard abided by its long-standing remix policy in regards to"Nude." For the purpose of our airplay, Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songscharts, Billboard merges remixes with the original version as long asthe music and/or lyrics of the remix remain true to the original.

Billboard and NielsenSoundScan do have a Digital Tracks chart, which ranks sales ofindividual versions/mixes, which can lead to a song having multiplelistings on that chart.

this audio or video is no longer available

The article also mentions that iTunes was almost certainly the reason for the song's chart position, because it only received 6 terrestrial radio plays between April 4 and April 10. Considering the splash their album continues to make online, it's shocking that Radiohead hasn't received more radio play.

See Also:

• Radiohead's 'Nude' May Have Charted by Releasing Tracks on iTunes
• Get Naked and Remix Radiohead
• Reznor vs. Radiohead: Innovation Smackdown
• MP3: Drum-and-Bass Cover of Radiohead's 'Weird Fishes' (Plus Tour Dates)
• MP3s: Amplive's 'Rainydayz' Remix of Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' Album

(via Idolator)