Record Research Inc. is the authority on music-industry chart performance. Founded in 1970 in Menomonee Falls, WI, by author and music historian Joel Whitburn, the company built its reputation by turning published chart listings into raw chart data and then presenting it as a rigorously organized historical record. Over the decades, Record Research became an indispensable resource for music executives, radio programmers, journalists, historians, collectors, and serious chart fans, covering genres including Pop, Country, R&B, Rock, Adult Contemporary, and Dance, as well as charts from Billboard and other trade publications including Cash Box, Gavin Report, Radio & Records, and Record World/Music Vendor.

Whitburn’s work began as a hobby in 1965, when he started logging Billboard’s Hot 100 on index cards to track each song’s debut date, peak position, weeks at peak, and total weeks on chart. That painstaking methodology became the backbone of Record Research and helped popularize now-standard chart terms such as “debut date,” “peak position,” and “weeks on chart.” In 1973, Whitburn signed a licensing agreement that gave him the exclusive right to mine Billboard’s charts to create data for his books, allowing Record Research to become the definitive home for chart-reference publishing.

Across more than five decades, Record Research has published 229 chart-reference titles, with a 230th to be released shortly, and helped shape the broader music-reference category itself. The company’s database reaches back to 1890, spanning everything from sheet-music tallies and wax-cylinder sales to modern streaming-era chart statistics, with a reputation built on obsessive accuracy and cross-checking against physical recordings whenever possible.

That legacy faced a crossroads after Whitburn’s death in June 2022. His daughter, Kim Bloxdorf, who had worked alongside him professionally for 35 years, continued leading the company as President with longtime Head Researcher Paul Haney, and Shipping Manager Brent Olynick until his retirement in 2024, after 47 years. Together, they completed books already in progress, such as The Gavin Report 1958-2000 and Top Pop Singles 1990-2022, and released Pop Annual 1950-2023 in 2024 – all while working to keep the business going through rising costs, staff reductions, and the long-tail effects of the industry’s digital transformation. By 2025, Record Research had nearly shut down, prompting Bloxdorf to inform customers about their state of affairs .

That outreach led to a turning point: Vinnie Freda, a longtime Record Research customer and four-decade music-industry veteran, stepped in to acquire a majority stake in the company and become CEO. Under Freda, Record Research’s revival is already taking shape in both print and digital form. The company is reissuing select classic titles as print-on-demand releases and has returned to the market with Joel Whitburn’s History of Top Country Singles 1944-2025, the first new book of the Freda era and the company’s first release in two years. Officially releasing June 4, 2026 during CMA Fest in Nashville, the book extends Record Research’s country-chart coverage from the debut of Billboard’s Most-Played Juke Box Folk Records chart in 1944 through the last Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts of 2025, and adds a songwriter-focused section honoring the legacy of Bob Kingsley.

Beyond new books, Freda has outlined a broader modernization strategy designed to bring Record Research into a more accessible, technology-enabled future. That includes building a digital portal where users can search chart data online; exploring ways to incorporate data from platforms such as Apple, Spotify, and YouTube alongside traditional chart sources; and expanding the company’s technology bench to support new research and product development.

Freda’s background makes that ambition especially credible. Throughout his career, he has been known for championing the use of data to create useful business insight. A longtime chart enthusiast since his college days, Freda’s career path was set when he discovered the Record Research book Top Pop 1955-1982 as a student at Stanford, putting him on a trajectory that would eventually bring him to the company as its new leader.

Across his career, Freda has worked in concert promotion, artist management, record labels, major and indie distribution, publishing, and streaming, with senior leadership posts at MCA Records, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Trebel Music. At MCA, he rose from Director of Administration to Senior Vice President, Business Operations, creating the first automated company-wide cost-commitment system at any U.S. label. He later spent 15 years at UMG, where he rose to Executive Vice President, Digital Logistics & Business Services and oversaw the development and operation of the first end-to-end digital supply chain at any major label, later also serving as Chief Operating Officer for Ingrooves Music Group. At Warner Music Group, he served as Chief Data Officer, helping drive the company’s finance transformation and rights-management and licensing strategy while leading a broader vision for data management across the business.

Even as the industry evolves, Record Research continues to occupy a singular place in music culture. Its books are described as daily tools and foundational texts by figures including Fred Bronson, Cliff Burnstein, Chris Molanphy, Dr. Demento, and Hugo Keesing. For many, Record Research is more than a publisher: it is the factual backbone of popular-music memory. In its next chapter, the company is positioning itself to remain exactly that, only with renewed leadership, broader reach, and new formats for the digital age.