the early '90s popularization of alternative music in the United States. An explanation floated was that the previous call system under-represented marginal genres. Under SoundScan, more accurate data on alternative music sales allowed these acts to appear higher in the Billboard charts than before, and their chart success helped increase the genre's popularity. In addition, SoundScan sales data quickly found use in the promotion departments at major record labels, to persuade radio station music directors to play tracks by high-selling alternative artists such as Nirvana. See also Album era Music recording certification List of best-selling albums in the United States of the Nielsen SoundScan era DigiListan – Swedish radio programme using Nielsen SoundScan to create its statistics References External links Nielsen Music Sales Measurement (formerly SoundScan) Distribution (marketing) Market research organizations Mass media companies established in 1991 Entertainment companies established in 1991 American companies established in 1991 American music industry