Melon to Create Top 100 Chart... First Revamp Since Kakao Entertainment Joined

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Melon Chart is being reborn as the TOP 100.

Melon Company of Kakao Entertainment announced on the 2nd that it will completely revamp its chart service into 'TOP 100' and 'Latest Chart' starting from the 9th. This is the first service overhaul since Melon Company joined Kakao Entertainment.

Previously, Melon restructured its existing 'Real-time Chart' into the current '24Hits' in July last year. At that time, as market distortion issues such as music manipulation (chart ranking manipulation) surfaced on music sites' charts, Melon abolished the real-time chart and changed to the '24Hits' system, which aggregates data hourly based on a 24-hour standard.

The new TOP 100 is created by combining recent 24-hour usage and recent 1-hour usage at a 50 to 50 ratio. However, during late night and early morning hours with fewer users (1 AM to 7 AM), the chart is published with 100% weight on recent 24-hour usage. A Melon representative said, "It is designed to minimize attempts to artificially boost music rankings."

The TOP 100 will disclose listener data for the recent 5 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours through the 'Chart Report.' Changes in the chart for newly entered songs, songs with rising ranks, and songs I like can also be checked through the 'Chart Board.'

Melon has also prepared measures for fair chart operation. A 'Chart Dedicated Department' has been established to strengthen continuous monitoring and analysis. Technical responses to fundamentally block chart data manipulation will also be implemented.

A Melon representative said, "This overhaul is a measure to accurately and realistically reflect the listening data of over 5 million Melon users and the music newly appearing daily from various places," adding, "We will continuously develop the service while listening to the voices of the industry and users to maintain trust as Korea's representative music chart."