7 Brilliant Ways To Get On The Billboard Charts Revealed

Billboard has many different categories of charts that artists often don’t know exist or forget to consider. While it’s great to shoot for the stars and aim for placement on their most popular Hot 100 list, there are smaller, more feasible charts you should think about getting on first.  

Below are just a handful of Billboard’s smaller, yet equally notorious music charts that you should attempt to get featured on: 

• Billboard Emerging Artists

• Billboard Streaming Songs

• Billboard Hot Digital Tracks

• Billboard Top Independent Albums

• Billboard Song Breaker

• Billboard Tastemaker

Getting placement on any of these Billboard charts will then give your music the recognition and boost it needs to then make its way to more well-known charts such as the Hot 100. But before getting your hopes us, you’ll need to take the necessary steps provided below to even become considered for the running of a Billboard chart feature. 

In order to even be in the running for a Billboard placement, there are a couple of boxes you will need to check off first. One of the first things you must do is have your song registered with Nielsen Media SoundScan. This process is easy and completely free, and can be done here. 

You will also need an International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) and/or Universal Product Code (UPC). The most common way to retrieve this code is to get it from your music distributor. Most every music distribution company will provide you with a specific UPC or ISRC code for every song you release with them. 

A UPC barcode is used to represent and track your music as an entire physical or digital product, in contrast to an ISRC code which represents individual tracks or sound recordings. These codes are used to track your music’s activity such as sales and downloads. Nielsen’s SoundScan reports these numbers from your codes back to Billboard (and the entire industry).

From there, Billboard can see which tracks are performing the best and which ones they should consider for various chart placements. Properly registering your track is the first step you must take to even get the chance for Billboard chart placement, but the next step is getting enough traction behind your song for Billboard to first even recognize it.

Aside from producing songs of real value that stand out from everyone else's music, you also need a story behind your music that makes you stand out as an artist. You win fans over by great music but you keep fans by showing them different aspects of your life aside from just the music. 

Artist biographies and stories are what often sell more records than the actual record itself. An important key to being a successful artist is demonstrating to the public that you are a genuine, relatable, and well-liked person. 

People may enjoy your music but what makes people actually buy your music is the fact that they like you as a person and artist. You’ve likely seen artists on the Billboard charts or being played on the radio whose music is just okay at best. However, what often sells the audience is the personality or story of the audience, not necessarily the quality of music. 

Though this is somewhat unfortunate because it has decreased the quality of today’s music, by knowing this information artists can then use it to their advantage in order to gain popularity. With that being said, don’t hesitate to create an artist story worthy of the front page newspaper.

Use every avenue possible to make yourself known as an artist — reach out to multiple different music blogs, consistently post on social media, interact with your fans often, network among your local music scene, and prove to the world that you have more to offer than just your great music!  

You’ll find that in such a crowded music industry, it is easier to become recognized as an artist than it is to get your music recognized. So, don’t be afraid to get out there and show your face and the amazing person behind your amazing music!

With Apple Music being the second largest music streaming platform worldwide, it is advisable to strategically use this platform in order to make your way over to the Billboard charts. iTunes has many marketing tools available to artists, one of the best being their pre-order campaigns. These campaigns encourage fans to buy or download your songs ahead of time to exclusively have before it drops publicly. 

You may be wondering how this will increase your chances of appearing on the Billboard charts? Well, simply because it has been proven that when artists employ the strategy of pre-selling music, the number of listeners/streams it has at the time of releases is three times higher than just promoting after the release. 

Pre-selling will increase your number of listeners the moment your music drops, which will not only help your algorithm and chances of getting placed on various Apple Music charts — but it will also generate buzz and set off alarms among Billboard Chart scouts. 

Although a pre-order campaign won’t get you on the Billboard charts immediately, it is a genius yet overlooked way to increase your streaming numbers. Which will then get you the necessary attention you’ll need to be considered for a Billboard chart placement. 

Without a doubt, video content has completely swept social media becoming the king of marketing and advertising efforts. For artists looking to get noticed in an overcrowded music industry, solely uploading still photos to social media just isn’t enough to attract attention anymore. 

Statistics are now proving that video content is capable of doing much more to engage and motivate audiences rather than text or image-based content alone. Which means that uploading videos is the fastest, cheapest, and most effective way to get noticed on the internet. 

Although many upcoming artists don’t have the budget to shoot huge music videos, the great thing is that they don’t need it. If you want to release a song accompanied by some sort of video (which is highly recommended these days), all you really need is some sort of eye-catching footage or animation in order to stand out.

Artists or bands don’t necessarily need some expensive music video to go viral. Really all that you need is some form of moving images, whether it be performance footage you already have, a lyric video you created on your smartphone, or an inexpensive animation you bought off of Fiverr.  

Once you’ve created some sort of moving image to accompany your track, then you just need to launch it online. Youtube, Instagram or Facebook are the most powerful social networks in the world, so releasing the video simultaneously on all your profiles will triple your online presence — while increasing the chances that Billboard will notice you and follow your next moves.

If your music is needing that extra push to get more streams on Spotify, the easiest and most effective way of doing this is by getting it playlisted. The playlists generated by independent curators or either Spotify itself are strategically put together and put in front of listeners that are guaranteed to increase your number of plays and views. 

Ultimately, Billboard scouts are going to be looking at how your music is performing on streaming sites such as Spotify before they even consider placing it on their own Billboard charts. Though this can take some time and money, promoting your song via Spotify playlisting is going to be the most effective way to ensure growth in your numbers.

It’s important to note that there are many independent playlist curation companies out there that either provide low-quality results or are complete scams. At Omari MC, we provide 100% organic music promotion and have been backed by thousands of artists who have found satisfaction and success through our Spotify playlisting campaigns. 

We have a wide network of highly popular playlists that artists of all genres have increased their streaming numbers by being placed on. As an Omari MC customer, you will also be provided with a number of different marketing tools and resources so that you can grow your career and achieve success as a musician. 

We are passionate about helping artists succeed and do this by providing only the highest quality promotion services available. If you are looking to get the attention and streaming numbers on Spotify that your music likely deserves, contact Omari MC today to discuss how we can help! 

You'll find throughout your music career journey that achieving success is not easy. However, nothing worth having ever comes easy. 

If you are serious about your music career and gaining accolades such as becoming a Billboard charting artist, it will require a certain level of dedication, determination, as well as team work in order to achieve this. 

Today's successful artists do not get to the top all by themselves. It takes a team of people working together to achieve a common goal of success. If you are trying to get your music heard in grander hopes of landing on the Billboard charts, you will definitely need some help from music marketing experts like the team at Omari MC.

We’ve helped thousands of artists achieve their dreams of success and would love to be a part of your success journey as well! Although we probably can't get you on the Billboard charts overnight, we can provide you with the necessary steps, knowledge, tools, and advice to work your way up in the industry ranks — bettering your chances of getting your music noticed by Billboard and hopefully one day getting placed on their charts.