Billboard

Logo since 2021

**Billboard** is an American corporation that oversees the music industry. Founded in Season 1 of #PopIndustry, Billboard's initial purpose was to track the sales and performance of the artists within the industry, and create the Billboard Charts - an official ranking of the weekly music best-sellers. Since it's creation, Billboard has diversified their range of products and services, with the introduction of the Billboard Box Office, the Billboard Music Awards, and official Billboard Magazine and interviews hosted by Billboard's own dedicated reporters.

## History

Billboard was founded in 2013, alongside the first three major record labels Atlantic Records, Interscope Records and Mercury Records. The original purpose of Billboard was to track the interest culminating from the singles and albums released by artists on these three record labels and displaying the results as a weekly-based chart. At the time of its creation, the Billboard Charts contained one singles chart and one albums chart, with an unknown chart formula that was criticised for seeming too random.

In 2014, American singer Katy Perry gained a large stake in Billboard and took over the direction of the corporation including its charts. The Billboard Charts were overhauled with a completely new formula based on the newly created minor charts. At this time, six charts existed; the two major charts - Hot Singles Chart and Top Albums Chart - plus four minor charts - the Digital Songs Chart, Radio Songs Chart, Streaming Songs Chart and Digital Albums Chart. This formula would constantly change over the upcoming years to become more representative of the industry as a whole. At this time, the first ever Billboard Music Awards were also hosted - then known as the #PI Awards.

Two years later, the Billboard Charts were once again overhauled. A completely new chart system would be put into place, with a focus on chart points. At this point, the prior Billboard Charts from Season One through Four were all revamped to fit onto this new system. This new chart system would become the benchmark and the base for all charts going forward.

Around this time, Billboard would start offering more services to artists throughout the industry. They would begin hosting interviews with artists, and publicising the important information as headlines on their Twitter accounts. The first incarnation of this feature would prove to be short lived. In 2018, the Billboard Interviews would make a comeback, with official Billboard reporters Karen Smith and New York being hired as the main interviewers. These would be officially published on Billboard's website and as part of the Billboard Magazine.

During Season 7, a new minor chart was added; the Streaming Albums Chart, marking a big change in the industry as albums would no longer solely be decided by digital sales. In addition, two more features would be introduced; the Billboard Box Office and the Legacy Chart. The Billboard Box Office quickly became a mainstay of the music industry and would track the attendance and revenue of tours and concerts going forward. The Legacy Chart was a new chart introduced to give recognition to past releases that were still relevant and successful years later.

At the end of 2019, another set of minor charts were introduced as a trial. These charts were the Trending Songs Chart and Trending Albums Chart, and both minor charts would count towards their format's respective major chart. In addition, format changes were made to the other minor charts. In 2021, the charts would move to a more-automated system, using these new chart formulae. Due to the mechanics of the system, the Legacy Chart was no longer deemed feasible and was removed entirely from the Billboard Charts, both past and present. During this time, Amelia Lily would be temporarily hired by Billboard to revitalise the Billboard Interviews, but her employment was short lived, and the interviews never returned. As of 2021, Billboard would also publish an official ranking of the best-selling artists in the music industry, complete with total chart points to date. This list was known as the Billboard Artist Rankings.

On November 15, 2021, Perry announced that she would retire from her post at Billboard, effective at the end of the year. Secondary editor P!nk would be promoted to primary editor and run Billboard in the same fashion going forward. Roc Nation executive Rihanna would later be hired as secondary editor. In 2022, the Billboard Box Office would be shut down and no longer be the tracking sources for tours and concerts.

## Products

### Billboard Magazine

*Main article: Billboard Magazine*
The Billboard Magazine is a product sold by Billboard, both physically and digitally on their own website. This magazine usually features one of the most successful artists of the week on the cover, and also includes various headlines and articles about recent events in the music industry. The interviews hosted by Billboard in the past and each of the published Artist Hot Sheets were also included in this document.

01 December 2018 Issue26 October 2019 Issue09 July 2021 IssueTaylor SwiftThe Weeknd
## Services

### Billboard Charts

*Main article: Billboard Charts*
The Billboard Charts were first launched in 2013 alongside the first three major record labels Atlantic Records, Interscope Records and Mercury Records. The first two charts were the singles chart and albums chart, each tracking the sales and interest of those types of releases, through an unknown formula that was later criticised for how seemingly random it was.

In 2014, Katy Perry gain a stake in Billboard and be subsequently hired to reformat the charts. She did so by renaming those charts to the Hot Singles Chart and Top Albums Chart respectively, and classifying them as major charts. Minor charts would also be added to contribute to the success of releases on the major charts. Chart formulae was constantly updated over the years, and after many overhauls, the current chart formulae and structure was created. The charts would continue to remain the main focus of Billboard despite the introduction of new products and services.

### List of Billboard Charts

#### Major Charts

* Hot Singles Chart
* Top Albums Chart

#### Minor Charts

* Digital Songs Chart
* Radio Songs Chart
* Streaming Songs Chart
* Trending Songs Chart
* Digital Albums Chart
* Streaming Albums Chart
* Trending Albums Chart

### Billboard Box Office

*Main article: Billboard Box Office*
The Billboard Box Office would open for business in late 2018. This service would not only sell tour tickets to fans worldwide and promote the music industry's upcoming concerts and shows, but would also then track the revenue and attendance of these tours and publish them yearly in a chart-like list. The trial period for the Box Office was in 2018, with a reduced seasonal budget. This budget would increase as the trial period ended and the Box Office became a mainstay prominent service going forward. In early 2022, it was announced that the Box Office would close indefinitely.

### Billboard Interviews

One of Billboard's earliest additional services was the Billboard Interviews. Initially, these were unofficial interviews conducted with new and upcoming artists in the industry, in which headlines about the interview would be tweeted publicly by Billboard. In 2018, these interviews became more prominent as Billboard hired Karen Smith and New York as official reporters. Their job would be to schedule one-hour long interviews with artists in the industry, then format and publish the full interview in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard's website. This service shut down at the end of 2018. The Billboard Interviews were intended to return in 2021, hosted by temporary employee Amelia Lily, but never manifested due to Lily's contract being terminated.

### Billboard Music Awards

*Main article: Billboard Music Awards*
The Billboard Music Awards would first be hosted in early 2014. At this time, the BBMAs would be known as the #PI Awards. These awards would be hosted at the end of every season, and would honor the best and biggest artists and releases of the year. Many changes would happen to the structure of the awards over the years. In 2021, the awards were officially renamed to the Billboard Music Awards.

## Subsidiaries

### Metacritic

*Main article: Metacritic*
Metacritic would be launched in May 2018 as a subsidiary of Billboard. This subsidiary would combine album reviews from label executives within the industry, to create an aggregated review score. A color of green, yellow or red would summarize the critics' recommendations. Since launch, Metacritic has become regarded as the foremost online review aggregation site for the music industry.

## Notable Staff

Current Staff

* P!nk, Editor (2017 - Present), BBMAs Host (2018)
* Rihanna, Editor (2022 - Present)
* Karen Smith, Reporter (2017 - Present)
* New York, Reporter (2018 - Present)
* Taylor Swift, BBMAs Host (2021 - Present)

Former Staff

* Katy Perry, Editor (2014 - 2021)
* Lady Gaga, Editor (2016), BBMAs Host (2014 - 2017)
* Lana Del Rey, BBMAs Host (2018 - 2020)
* Brendon Urie, Reporter (2021)
* Amelia Lily, Reporter (2021)