Bluegrass Junction, XM Satellite Radio’s 24/7 bluegrass music channel, has launched its own monthly bluegrass music chart, based on the material which is most regularly aired on Bluegrass Junction.

Program Director Kyle Cantrell explains how the chart is compiled.

“Since our programming is album-based, rather than song- or single-based, we normally have several songs from a given album on our playlist simultaneously. Therefore, our chart is based on albums, rather than singles. Songs from the albums are chosen for airplay based on their popularity with listeners, their relevance to modern bluegrass, overall performance quality, and their ‘fit’ with the sound of Bluegrass Junction. Artists’ CDs which have more songs that fit these criteria get more airplay and, therefore, merit a higher position on the chart.”

The top five places for April include:

The April playlist chart is available online, as a PDF file on the Bluegrass Junction page at xmradio.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the chart link.

Kyle tells us that subsequent monthly charts will be compiled and posted at the beginning of each month. They are also planning to review the chart each month on-air, in a countdown format.