It is one of the three components, along with sales (both physical and the digital) and streaming activity, that determine the chart positions of songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Billboard continued to collect airplay data as a component of the Hot 100 but did not make the chart public.
A song can pick up an airplay point every time it is selected to be played on specific radio stations that Billboard monitors.
Effective from issue dated July 17, 1993, adult contemporary stations were added to the panel, followed by modern rock few months later.
However, beginning in December 1998, the chart profile expanded to include airplay data from radio stations of other formats such as R&B, rock and country.
[7] As of the chart dated July 17, 2021, the radio airplay data is collected on a Friday through Thursday weekly cycle, which matches that of the other Hot 100 metrics (streaming and sales).