How Entity Resolution Cleans Messy Name Data, Using Billboard Charts as a Test Case
Entity resolution is the process of identifying which database records refer to the same real-world person, company, or entity — a common challenge wherever humans enter names. A practical guide published on DEV Community walks through a five-step approach using Billboard Hot 100 chart data spanning 1958 to the present. The exercise found that Elvis Presley alone appears under seven distinct credit strings, meaning raw record counts can undercount an artist's catalog by nearly half. Across 11,275 unique chart credits, up to 43% contain joining words like 'Featuring,' 'With,' or '&,' making normalization rules a core requirement rather than an edge-case fix. The guide also documents two cases where cleaning rules misfired — such as generating the fake artist name '2Pac Duet' — illustrating why every rule must be tested against real data before being applied at scale.
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