The Billboard Social 50 is a popularity chart which ranks the most active musical artists on the world's leading social networking services.[1] Its data, published by Billboard magazine and compiled by Next Big Sound, is based collectively on each artist's weekly additions of friends, fans and followers, along with artist website views and streaming media.[1] Bill Werde, the former editorial director of Billboard, called the Social 50 "yet another step" in the evolution of the magazine and an "important response to our changing times".[2] The chart initially only retrieved its data from YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and iLike to create its ranking, but in November 2012 was expanded to include SoundCloud and Instagram.[3][4] Data from Vine and Tumblr were added to the chart in June 2015.[5]
The Billboard Social 50 was launched on December 11, 2010. The first artist to reach number one on the chart was Barbadian singer Rihanna.[3][6] Since debuting, she has spent a total of 21 weeks at the top of the chart. In October 2016, South Korean boy band BTS landed the number one spot on the chart, becoming the second K-pop act, after Psy, to reach first place on the ranking. They hold the record for the most weeks at number one, with 210.[7] Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber follows with 164 weeks at number one. BTS also hold the record for the most consecutive weeks at number one, with 180. Following her death in December 2012, American singer Jenni Rivera became the first and only artist to top the chart posthumously. Since its launch, 20 artists have reached the top spot on the Billboard Social 50. Three of these artists—Rivera, Skrillex and Justin Timberlake—have only reached the spot for a single week.
On December 26, 2020, Billboard announced its suspension of the Social 50 chart for an undisclosed period of time in order to facilitate their transition to a new data partner. While this would also impact the Artist 100 and Emerging Artists charts—both include social metrics in their formulation—Billboard stated that neither chart would be disrupted. The Social 50 was to resume activity sometime early in 2021, but remains inactive to date.[8]
- ^ a b "Billboard Charts Legend – General Information". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Ehrlich, Brenna (December 2, 2010). "Billboard Launches 'Social 50' Chart to Rate Artists by Online Popularity". Mashable. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ a b Johnston, Maura (December 2, 2010). "New Chart Based on Social Networking Data Debuts". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Gruger, William (November 12, 2012). "One Direction, Rita Ora Benefit From Social 50 Formula Shake-Up". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 13, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Gruger, William (June 18, 2015). "Vine & Tumblr Join the Billboard Social 50 Chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Vena, Jocelyn (December 3, 2010). "Rihanna, Justin Bieber Top Billboard's Social 50 Chart". MTV News. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ Rutherford, Kevin (February 3, 2020). "BTS Break Record For Most Weeks at No. 1 on Social 50 Chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ "Billboard to Temporarily Pause Social 50 Chart". Billboard. December 26, 2020. Archived from the original on December 26, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.