On this day in 1945, Billboard Magazine published their first album chart, with the King Cole Trio as the first number one

Billboard had already been producing lists of top songs since 1940, originally having seperate charts for differing measures of popularity including record and sheet sales, disc jockey plays and jukebox song selection. 

In 1945 these charts were joined by the Best-Selling Popular Record Albums list. This chart included only ten positions based on reports from more than 200 record dealers throughout the US. The new list opened with the King Cole Trio’s self-titled debut holding the top spot, where it remained for three weeks. 

Eventually many of these charts were consolidated and formed into an early version of the Top 100 format we see today, where sales, streaming and radio play all form the data that makes up the chart. Billboard also maintain charts for different music genres, including rock, country, dance, bluegrass, jazz, classical, R&B, rap, electronic, Latin and pop.