Repeated Errors on Other Websites

I brought this up a few weeks ago but it bears repeating.  I have noticed other rock era web sites that claim to know the dates that singles were released.  They list them as being the date they debuted on the Billboard magazine chart.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Anyone who has ever worked either in radio or in the music business knows that songs are released so that they may be on the desk of the Music Director/Program Director on Monday morning.  That person hopefully listens to them and considers adding the song to the radio station playlist.  They then report their "New Adds" as well as the popularity of the other songs they are playing to the trade papers, so that they can be printed for publication that weekend.  Obviously, if a single was released on the date Billboard was delivered to newsstands and subscribers, radio stations certainly couldn't add it, report it to Billboard and have Billboard print it on that day!  How would Billboard know how popular it was if was just released that day?

So please beware of any site that tells you that a single was released on the date the music chart came out, 'cause it's not true.  The truth is that there is no way to know for sure when a single was released if it happened years ago, but it certainly was never released on the date it debuted on the chart.