DIVIDE 'til I Can't No More: Genre Charts, Data, and Identity

Chapter 5 explores how genre is defined by the music business, how genre charts are compiled, and how they are challenged by the rise of digital music and a shift in our understanding of racial essentialism and genre. Since the 1940s Billboard has had charts to track “Race Records” (R&B) and “hillbilly”/“Folk” (Country) and has tried various methodologies to determine these formats' borders. In the analog music era, the magazine's genre methodologies were widely trusted, but the flattening effect of digital music consumption has made it hard to pinpoint genre audiences. These tensions broke into the open when Lil Nas X's “Old Town Road” was pulled from the Country chart, leading to questions about race and genre and the validity of genre itself.