The Heatseekers charts are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by Billboard in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical recording artists.[1] Albums and songs appearing on Top Heatseekers may also concurrently appear on the Billboard 200orBillboard Hot 100.
The Heatseekers Albums chart contains 25 positions that are ranked by Nielsen SoundScan sales data, and charts album titles from "new or developing acts" as determined by the acts' historical chart performance. Once an artist/act has had an album place in the top 100 of the Billboard Top 200, or in the top 10 of any of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Country Albums, Latin Albums, Christian Albums, or Gospel Albums charts, the album and later works no longer qualify for tracking on Heatseeker Albums.[2]
The Heatseekers Songs chart contains 25 positions, rated by a combination of Nielsen BDS airplay measurements, Nielsen SoundScan sales data, and streaming activity figures from online music sources. Like Heatseekers Albums, this chart tracks titles from "new or developing acts", similarly determined by the acts' historical chart performance. An artist's song is no longer eligible for Heatseekers Songs when the artist has had a song place in the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 (or has had a radio song before December 5, 1998).[3]
The Heatseekers Songs chart was quietly discontinued on December 6, 2014; the final chart was released on November 29, 2014, and the final number-one song on the chart was "Girl in a Country Song" by Maddie & Tae.[4]
The Heatseekers chart is designed for either new or developing artists. Since the chart debuted in October 1991, Billboard has defined a developing act as one who has never had an album reach the top half of the Billboard 200, ...
