How It Works

Weekly Curation: Every week on Fridays, Ongaku Magazine staff rigorously review 10 or more new tracks to consider for the chart. These tracks join a running roster of songs that have been evaluated across the chart’s history.

Comparative Scoring: Each eligible song is measured against the others and assigned an evaluative score from 0–10. The scoring system is inspired by Pitchfork and focuses on composition, arrangement, lyrical depth, production choices, emotional impact, innovation, and cultural relevance–rather than commercial metrics.

Roster Limits and Turnover: Songs can remain on the Ongaku Charts for a maximum of 10 weeks. This rule ensures continual renewal of the charted field and keeps attention on emerging artistry, while still allowing a meaningful window for a song’s critical life cycle.

Public and Internal Ranks: The chart publicly reports the Top 50 songs each week. Internally, the chart ranks up to the Top 100. Artists whose tracks ever appear above No. 50 have that song listed on their artist profile in the Ongaku archive.

Immediate Termination Below No. 50: Any song that falls below No. 50 is removed from eligibility and may not re-enter the Ongaku Charts—an intentional mechanism to keep the chart focused and to maintain momentum for actively regarded works.

Limitation of Entries: No artist is eligible to have more than three songs evaluated per week cycle, with a maximum of seven songs per month cycle. No more than three songs per album are evaluated. This attempts to hinder unfair skewering to certain artists.

How Songs Are Selected For Evaluation: Songs are chosen for evaluation by cultural relevance (whether formerly or currently), and typically must have a degree of masterful reputation. Songs may also be evaluated based on reader requests.

Origin: The Ongaku Charts were conceived by Brendan Gieseke, founder of Ongaku Magazine, as a corrective to charts driven purely by commerce. The system privileges sustained artistic integrity and critical attention: a song’s worth is treated as a living thing, deserving repeated appraisal and a fair chance to accrue context beyond its initial release window. By limiting tenure and emphasizing comparative critical judgment, the Ongaku Charts aim to create a rotating showcase of music that matters—not just now, but in the ongoing conversation of contemporary sound.