Hot Ringtones
billboard chart
Hot Ringtones (also known as just Ringtones) was a record chart published weekly by Billboard. It is their first chart to be published that ranks the most popular ringtones.
The chart was quietly discontinued on December 6, 2014; the final chart was released on November 29, 2014, and the final number-one song on the chart was "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift.
Background
On October 26, 2004, Billboard staff announced that they would be adding a new chart for ringtones.
Hot RingMasters
In 2006, Billboard introduced a new ringtones chart titled Hot RingMasters. The first number one song on the Hot RingMasters chart, for the issue dated December 2, 2006, was "Smack That" by Akon and Eminem.
Hot MasterTones
On April 3, 2006, John Kilcullen, president and publisher of Billboard Information Group, and Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts, announced a new Billboard ringtone chart titled "Hot MasterTones" at Billboard MECCA 2006.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hot Ringtones” is billboard chart. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ringtones, billboard and chart, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “billboard chart” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9294024. The first chronological checks are 2014, 2004 and 2006.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hot Ringtones”, its source revision and the description used here.
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Hot Ringtones” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.