Metacritic

Metacritic is a subsidiary of the American corporation Billboard. It was founded by Troye Sivan on May 13, 2018. Metacritic aggregates reviews of music releases, and provides a critic's choice track to help artists pick the right singles. A color of green, yellow or red summarizes the critics' recommendations. It is regarded as the foremost online review aggregation site for the music industry.

## History

Metacritic was launched in May 2018, by then-Interscope Records artist Troye Sivan as a trial for re-launching his current record label Atlantic Records. Metacritic would remain active since then on a weekly basis.

## Criteria

Only albums that match Metacritic's official criteria will be eligible for review. This criteria has changed multiple times. The current criteria is as follows:

### Eligibility Criteria

* The release can be a Studio Album, Unofficial Album/Mixtape, Soundtrack or EP.
* The release cannot be a Greatest Hits Album, Compilation or a Remix or Reissue.
* The release can be formatted as Official, Promo or Non-Charting.
* The release must be the standard edition.
* The release must be six (6) or more tracks that match the Rating Criteria.
* The release must contain at least 50% new tracks - songs which were not rated in a past release - that match the Rating Criteria.

### Rating Criteria

* Intros, Interludes and Outros should be clearly marked as such, and will NOT be scored.
* Remixes or alternate versions (excluding original album versions) of individual songs will NOT be scored
* Album versions, “Part” versions (such as Part II) and Reprises should be clearly marked as such. These will NOT be scored unless they are the only “version” of that track on the tracklist.

## Policy Changes

### Label Reviews

Metacritic's esteemed reviewers are the current label executives of the industry. Prior to 2021, label executives could review their own musical releases. While the aim was always to review fairly, unconscious biases would always slip in. Therefore, in 2021, an official change was made so that label executives could not review their own releases. This change was retroactively applied to all past releases.

### User Reviews

Metacritic introduced the option for users to review albums fairly early into their lifespan. At the time, this was a successful feature, albeit one that didn't see much use. However, as Metacritic would reformat their internal workings, it became clear that this feature was no longer feasible with the new automation-based system. This feature was removed prior to 2021.

In 2023, Metacritic underwent a slight structure change that allowed for the return of User Reviews. Players who purchased the Ko-fi Supporter Pass would be eligible to review albums from an overall score between 0 and 10. A fan sheet was also prepared allowing users to calculate their score based on a track-by-track review should they wish to. User Reviews will be active weekly during future seasons. Legendary, respected, iconic or infamous albums will also be scored during the off-season in special All-Stars waves.

## Controversy

### Removal of Reviews

Metacritic prides itself on fair reviews that are filled with honesty and integrity. Therefore, Metacritic will sometimes remove certain reviews that are seemingly biased or dishonest if all the other reviewers agree to it. Currently the only review to be removed is Christina Aguilera's review of *Blonder* by Gwen Stefani.

## Metascores

Scores are averages from the official reviews recorded by each label executive at the time of release. As Metacritic only launched in Season 7 of #PopIndustry, reviews were backdated to score all albums released prior to Season 7 that were still widely available.

**Score index**

The highest rated albums of all time are *Ruby* by Jennie and *do you really wanna go back in time?* by Billie Eilish with a score of 83. The standalone lowest rated album of all time is the *Queen of Halloween* (EP) by Christina Aguilera with a 23.

Metacritic users rated *Numb on the Dancefloor* by Dua Lipa as their most popular album, with a score of 8.4 out of 10. Their least favorite album to date is *BODY PARTS* by Justin Timberlake - which received a score of 2.9 out of 10.

### Notable Releases

Any release that receives a metascore of 75 of higher is usually regarded as having universal acclaim. These albums are:

## Notable Staff

### Current Staff

* Troye Sivan, Publisher (2018 - Present)