Questions and Answers
Questions
- Technical:
- It says I have JavaScript turned off, what is the problem?
- Where do I get the Flash plug-in?
- Graph:
- How do I display a graph of the performance of a song/album?
- Why can I only select four charts for a graph?
- How do I find out the chart position in the graph on a specific week?
- Which y-axis corresponds with which chart?
- Micellaneous:
- What about Wikipedia?
... and Answers
About αCharts
αCharts is a privately held website which went online on April 30, 2007. It's primary goal is to give you a quantitative impression of the happenings in the global music industry, by summarizing chart history of performers, songs and albums. In addition it lists over 40 music charts including archives, which are free for download without registration.
αCharts is pronounced as Alpha Charts, while often being referred to as aCharts. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, which reflects our objective in the online charts scene.
αCharts has its roots on MusicSquare.net, where the first 15 charts were published since 2003. We've decided to spin the charts section off and give it its own place on the internet under a new name. After the spin off, 15 albums charts were added which were never published on MusicSquare. By now we've added 8 more single charts, 5 new album charts and some new features like Music Videos, a Personal Log In with Favorites, RSS Feeds and support for mobile browsing. As of May 11, 2008 a little over a year after the launch of aCharts, the charts section on MusicSquare has been shutdown in favour of aCharts.us. As of 28th of October the Germany Singles Top 100 and the Germany Albums Top 50 have been discontinued.
Most charts have archives starting week 10/2003, some charts (World Albums Top 40, Canada Singles Top 100, Portugal Singles Top 50, Spain Singles Top 50, Bulgaria Singles Top 40, Portugal Albums Top 30, Spain Albums Top 100, US Airplay Top 100, Mexico Albums Top 100, Italy Albums Top 100) have a limited archive because they are either not available to us or they were launched after week 10/2003. There may also be some minor errors in the charts, these have been made by our sources or by the software which analyses new charts and adds them to the website. Of course don't hesitate to let us know when you stumble upon one.
We hope you enjoy the website, and use it as your primairy charts source.
What does each column in the chart list mean?
First column - The position of the title on the chart you are currently viewing.
Second column - The position of the title on last week's chart. This column may also display: re-entry and new. It also shows the movement relative to last week.
Main column - artist / title
Fourth column - Shows the highest position ever on this chart.
Fifth column - The number of weeks the title has been on this chart.
Darker blue background - Title which resides on it's peak position.
On some other pages you may also want some more information on the meaning of a column, in those cases look for text with a dashed underline like this and hover your mouse over it.
How do I log in?
Click 'Log In' in the upper right hand corner of any page, enter your OpenID url, authorize http://acharts.us and you're logged in. If you have an account with one of the following websites: AOL, LiveJournal, Google or Yahoo, you can click on the icon, enter your username which is highlighted (not nessasary for Google) in the field and click Go! Now you'll be asked to login to one of those sites and to authorize http://acharts.us; now you are logged in.
You can find more information on OpenID below.
By logging in, you do NOT create an account. As soon as you start to add favorites or personalize settings, we store that for you. We remove your account when all settings are set to default and all favorites are removed, or when you haven't logged in for six months. Be conscious of your privacy, read our privacy policy.
What is OpenID?
Wikipedia describes OpenID as:
"OpenID is a decentralized single sign-on system. Using OpenID-enabled sites, web users do not need to remember traditional authentication tokens such as username and password. Instead, they only need to be previously registered on a website with an OpenID "identity provider", sometimes called an i-broker. Since OpenID is decentralized, any website can employ OpenID software as a way for users to sign in; OpenID solves the problem without relying on any centralized website to confirm digital identity."
Here is what you have to do to Log In on aCharts.us (and about 4,500 other sites) with OpenID.
First off you'll need an 'identity provider'. You may want to check if you not already have one (for example: AOL, Yahoo and Google), if not we personally recommend to signup for one at MyOpenID.com or VeriSign Personal Identity Provider as these seems to be highly secured providers. After you've signed up for an OpenID you'll be provided with your OpenID, which is an url like http://username.provider.com, username.provider.com, provider.com/user/username, or anything similar (there are two requirements: 1] it needs to include the domain of your provider (for example: myopenid.com) and 2] the username at this provider). This becomes your username of every OpenID website.
Step 2: Now that you have your OpenID, you can log in at aCharts. Click the Log In link in the upper right hand corner of this page, an input field and a go button will appear. Enter your OpenID and click the 'go!' button. Now you'll be forwarded to your 'identity provider' which will ask you to login. When you're logged in at your 'identity provider' it will ask you if you want to share some details with http://acharts.us, you have to accept or you won't be logged in at aCharts. Et Voilà, you logged in!
The (dis)advantage: If you don't use OpenID already, it may be a burden because you have to login both on aCharts and on your 'identity provider'. But on the other hand, if you already have an OpenID (AOL, LiveJournal and in the future MSN users will automatically have them) you have to do nothing more then enter it on aCharts (or any other OpenID site), and log in at your existing provider.
How do I suggest a new video or report a problem with a video?
To suggest a new video, Visit the YouTube page with the video on it. Copy the URL, which should look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= (instead of www it could say: uk, au, de, etc). Browse on acharts.us to the matching song page and click on the green button in the middle of the header named: Add Video. Paste the URL in the field and click Go!. Unfortunately not all videos are allowed to be embedded on external sites; this is the case if you see the following error: "Sorry, we are not allowed to embed this video on the site."
Reporting a problem with a video on acharts works similarly. Click on Edit Video in the small video header, you'll be presented with some information and two options for input. Identifying the problem is compulsory, but supplying a better video is optional.
All suggestions will be reviewed in a timely fashion. Just let us know if you can't wait and want to become a Video Moderator yourself.
It says I have JavaScript turned off, what is the problem?
Its not a real big problem, it may result in links not responding to a click. One of these links are the Chart Category links in the right hand menu, the login link on top of the page and links to additional functions in the song/album performance table. If you did not intentionally turn JavaScript off, make sure your browser is up to date and turn JavaScript on.
Where do I get the Flash plug-in?
To view the charts graph you need to have the Flash plug-in installed, and it should be at least version 6. If you don't have it, or if you're not sure, visit the Flash Plug-in Website. There you can download, upgrade and get general information on Adobe Flash.
How do I display a graph of the performance of a song/album?
You can generate a graph of the performance of any song or album. Go to the song or album page of which you want the graph. Select one or more (up to four) checkboxes in front of the name of the chart you want to plot in the song/album performance table, and click the 'draw graph' button. The graph should now appear just below the song/album performance table. If it doesn't show up, there may be one or two problems: you may have disabled JavaScript and/or you don't have the Flash plug-in.
Why can I only select four charts for a graph?
You cannot select more than four charts to be compared in a graph, to prevent a chaotic graph. To change the set of charts, deselect one chart first, to select one other. Also note that when you select more than two (three or four) charts, no y-axis will be displayed.
How do I find out the chart position in the graph on a specific week?
First make sure you read the position from the correct axis. But it will probably still be hard to figure out, so therefore you can hover your mouse over the circles that indicate the positions and it will show you the exact position.
Which y-axis corresponds with which chart?
When you select just one chart, it will just show one y-axis on the left side with the appropriate scale. When you select two charts a second y-axis will appear. The y-axis on the left serves the chart with the name printed on the left side of the legend, and the right y-axis refers to the chart with the name printed on the right side. When you select more than two charts, no y-axis will appear at all. If this occurs you can put your mouse on one of the dots on the lines to see the exact position at that time for that chart.
We've done it this way, to easily compare the performance across charts with different chart lengths.
Where can I find RSS Feeds?
We provide RSS charts for each chart on αCharts, so you have direct access to the most recent music charts whenever and wherever you want. For example you can create your own charts page in iGoogle! To get the url of the feeds visit any chart page and look for the 
icon.
How do I add charts to my website/blog?
aCharts gives you an easy way to add charts to your website/blog! With only one line of HTML code you can add any chart to your website or blog. Use the wizard below to obtain your own custom HTML code.
You may use these javascripts as often as you like and they are completely free of charge. But if you want the complete list on your website, formatted the way you like and with more information (like: Position Last Week, Total Weeks On Chart and Peak Position) in XML format, feel free to drop us a line.
Technical Note: We use three stylesheet classes: 'ac_chartname' for the title of the chart, 'ac_chartissue' for the chart issue date and 'ac_chartentry' for the titles. To make sure the charts fits into your site's design, you can manipulate the style of the chart, visit W3Schools for information on how to do so.
What about Wikipedia?
Dear Wikpedians, thank you for you using αCharts.us as your chart source. The charts displayed on this website are chosen to give the best as possible quantitative impression of the happenings in the global music industry. Though a group of Wikipedians believe otherwise, therefore we would like to point out to you the guidelines on Record Charts and in particular the paragraph Deprecated Charts. This means that the following charts should not be included onto Wikipedia: Bulgaria Singles Top 40, Portugal Singles Top 50, US Airplay Top 100, World Singles Top 40 and World Albums Top 40. Thank you for respecting the Wikipedia Community.