Funny you mention Disney as they are suspected of faking showing numbers. People have taken pics during 'sold out' showings with empy theaters. Artists will ha

Funny you mention Disney as they are suspected of faking showing numbers. People have taken pics during 'sold out' showings with empy theaters. Artists will have their manager or people bid/buy on stuff to 'drive interest'. Authors and their managers will buy their books from bookstores, especially the ones that report to the NY Times best sellers list. This has been getting gamed forever. Comic books artists do it, recording artists with their CDs. The list is endless, it's not new, and pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help stop the problems. You mention the top 40 but it's far beyond that, there's a reason for many years radio djs were seen as gatekeepers. If they didn't play your song you wouldn't get noticed. They either got kickbacks or more power/control,but your explanation does makse sense for current day and does help ease my pain a bit so thanks for the knowledge!