How did we reach the Ultimate?

By standing on the shoulders of giants. The Ultimate Chart is an unprecedented aggregation of timely, relevant metrics and a product of our friends' and partners' hard work and well-deserved success. We analyze and integrate information about music everywhere -- from Amazon and iTunes and YouTube and VEVO and Pandora and Clear Channel and Myspace and Facebook and Yahoo and AOL and many, many others.

How do we put it all together?

The Ultimate Chart is a chart for the 21st century, based on a scalable technology platform developed over more than ten years. We collect billions of points of data, online and off. Our machines are very clever but our analysts are too. Real people grade the computers' work to ensure accuracy. We collect more relevant information from more sources than anyone ever has, by our count.

But don't worry. We're not taking a day off. The Ultimate 100 is just the beginning. Stay tuned.