Billboard (magazine)
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"Billboard" redirects here. For other uses, see Billboard (disambiguation).
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Its most famous chart, the "Billboard Hot 100", ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is frequently used as the standard measure for ranking songs in the United States. The "Billboard 200" survey is the corresponding chart for album sales.
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[edit] History
When founded in 1894, Billboard magazine was a trade paper for the bill posting industry, hence the magazine's name. Within a few years of its founding, it began to carry news of outdoor amusements, a major consumer of billboard space. Eventually the cart went before the horse and Billboard became the paper of record for circuses, carnivals, amusement parks, fairs, vaudeville, minstrels, whale shows and other live entertainment. The magazine made a huge strategic mistake in the early 1900s when it ceded motion picture news to Variety, founded in 1905. Beginning with the first issue of 1961, Billboard spun off all its departments except music, devoting the entire book to that industry. The outdoor departments were transferred to a start-up magazine called Amusement Business which continues to this day, mainly as a carnival trade publication.
[edit] Billboard charts
On January 4, 1936 Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade and on July 20, 1940 the first Music Popularity Chart was calculated. Since 1958 the Hot 100 has been published, combining single sales and radio airplay.
To this day, the most successful acts on Billboard's charts are The Beatles, Mariah Carey, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bing Crosby, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Janet Jackson, and Elton John.
[edit] Radio countdown programs
For many years, the weekly syndicated radio program "American Top 40," hosted by Casey Kasem (July 4, 1970 to August 6, 1988 and then March 28, 1998 to January 3, 2004) and Shadoe Stevens (August 13, 1988 to January 28, 1995), played the top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in reverse order; in 1991, it switched to using the Billboard Radio Monitor top 40 chart. Later, in 1993, it began using the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, which it used until it temporarily went off the air in 1995. When the show returned in 1998, it no longer used Billboard charts as its source.
A country music version of "American Top 40", called "American Country Countdown", has been on the air since October 1973. The show is hosted each week by Kix Brooks of the country superstar duo Brooks & Dunn, who replaced radio legend Bob Kingsley in January 2006. American Country Countdown uses the top 40 songs of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
[edit] Billboard today
Billboard magazine covers every aspect of the entertainment business, from DVDs to video cassette sales to internet music downloads. It features news stories and opinion articles. For the most part, Billboard is intended for music professionals, such as record label executives and DJs. It is generally not intended for the general public, although it can occasionally be found at bookstores. However, despite their extensive coverage of the entertainment business, they remain best known for their charts.
[edit] Corporate ownership
As of 2005, Billboard is owned by the Dutch conglomerate VNU.
[edit] Further reading
- Durkee, Rob. "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century." Schriner Books, New York City, 1999.
- Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem The 1970s." Authorhouse.com, January 31, 2005. ISBN 1-4184-1070-5.
