Ongoing History Daily: “With a Bullet”

You may have heard a song described as rising on the charts “with a bullet.”  Ever wondered what that means?  This is a reference to an indicator on the Billboard music charts that shows a song with significant upward momentum. 

By measuring retail sales, radio airplay and one or two other factors, the songs that are doing better than others are given a “bullet” designation in the charts.  They have shown the most growth in popularity with audiences. 

A song or an album can even be “number one with a bullet,” which says that even though it’s reached the top of the chart–the number one position–it still has upward momentum and continues to get bigger and bigger. 

If you’re a record label, an artist or a manager, you love to hear that your songs is “number [blank] with a bullet.”