Its first number-one single was "A Prayer and a Juke Box" by Little Anthony and the Imperials[1] (the song would later peak at #81).
[3] However, it returned as a feature in the December 5, 1992, issue of Billboard and continues to the present day.
From June 1959 through August 1985, Billboard compiled the chart based on playlists reported by radio station and retail sales outlets surveys.
In 1992, Billboard employed updated data capture technology in compiling the chart, using point-of-sale retail information provided by Nielsen SoundScan, input from radio station airplay monitoring provided by Broadcast Data Systems and playlists from small-market systems.
The latest book to be published by the company was 2005's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100: 1959–2004 (ISBN 978-0-89820-162-8).