\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \n\tDespite being deeply entrenched in the past, P.M. Dawn\u2019s music was symbolic of the future. Part of that symbolism was how it got to number one: \u201cSet Adrift on Memory Bliss\u201d was the first number one under SoundScan, Billboard<\/em>\u2019s new accounting system. But the other part was tied to what the song was: a hip-hop song by a Black duo. Though both statements feel humdrum, they were harbingers of seismic shifts in American popular music.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tImagine you own a record store. It\u2019s late 1989, and Bad English\u2019s \u201cWhen I See You Smile\u201d has been at number one for two weeks. You get a call from Billboard<\/em>, and they ask what\u2019s been selling at your store. This isn\u2019t surprising. They call every week. It\u2019s how they compile the Hot 100. You\u2019re about to tell them that \u201cWhen I See You Smile\u201d remained the best-selling single. But you hesitate. You notice you have tons of copies of Milli Vanilli\u2019s newest record, \u201cBlame It on the Rain.\u201d It hasn\u2019t been selling as well as you were expecting. So, you decide to lie.<\/p>\n \n\tYou tell Billboard<\/em> that the European duo\u2019s tune is flying off the shelves. They thank you, and then you hang up the phone. You feel guilty, but your hope is that if you can inflate the sales of \u201cBlame It On the Rain,\u201d then more people will buy it. Many of your customers shop that way. They dig through your display at the front of the store with Billboard<\/em>\u2019s most popular records when deciding what to purchase. Your shady behavior wasn\u2019t going to last, though.<\/p>\n \n\tIn late 1991, Billboard<\/em> started aggregating the Hot 100 via SoundScan rather than surveys. \u201cSet Adrift on Memory Bliss\u201d was the first song to get to number one under this new system. Derek Thompson described this change in his piece in The Atlantic<\/em> titled \u201c1991: The Most Important Year in Pop-Music History\u201d:<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSo, for many years, Billboard<\/em> wasn\u2019t a perfect mirror of American tastes. It was warped by label preferences and record-store inventories \u2026 But in 1991, this changed. First, Nielsen ended the record-store charade by releasing SoundScan, which used point-of-sales data from cash registers in stores. Finally, Nielsen had timely information on which albums were really selling.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen this change went into effect, it was clear that the old system had biases that benefited certain genres and artists. Paula Abdul proves a good example of this. The cheerleader-turned-pop-star had her final number ones in this era: \u201cCold Hearted,\u201d \u201cOpposites Attract,\u201d \u201cRush Rush,\u201d and \u201cThe Promise of a New Day.\u201d Each song summited the charts pre-SoundScan. None of her six singles released in the SoundScan era even cracked the top 10.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSure,\u201d you might contest, \u201cbut Abdul\u2019s creative output slowed to a near halt after 1991. Maybe she wasn\u2019t putting as much time into her music career.\u201d I\u2019d agree that was part of it, but \u201cThe Promise of a New Day\u201d provides additional evidence of the benefits she was reaping in the pre-SoundScan era. When \u201cThe Promise of a New Day\u201d topped the Hot 100, it wasn\u2019t at the top of Billboard<\/em>\u2019s sales or radio play charts, both of which had already switched to SoundScan. Thus, the future American Idol<\/em> judge achieved the impossibility of having the most popular record in the country without having the most popular song on radio or in stores.<\/p>\n \n\tThis isn\u2019t to say that Paula Abdul was unpopular. The human-reported, pre-SoundScan system just overstated that popularity. But beyond this specific example, there were more general changes that came about because of this improved data. One of the main things SoundScan taught us was that if pop songs were drugs, we\u2019d all be hopelessly addicted.<\/p>\n\n
\n\t\tLet Me Reassure You That You Can Count On Me\t<\/h2>\n