Music lovers rejoice! A beautiful new method of music discovery has arrived. This week, Billboard and Twitter officially launched the new Billboard Twitter Real-Time Charts. The new charts are sure to change the game when it comes to fans sharing, engaging, and interacting with new music, as the basic premise for the design is popular songs ranked by how much they are being shared on Twitter in the United States.
After Twitter’s failed attempt at launching a music platform with its #Music app earlier this year, the company went back to the drawing board, this time teaming up with the reigning kings of music rankology, Billboard. Together, they are introducing the first of real-time charts, such as the Billboard Trending 140, a compilation of trending songs on Twitter that is updated by the minute, measured by the acceleration of the songs being shared over the past hour.
Love to discover new artists before they are popular? Billboard has also introduced the Emerging Artists Chart, which ranks up-and-coming artists with fewer than 50,000 followers and those who have never been a main artist in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 50 spots. The chart is presented as a seven-day/weekly round up on Billboard.com and in print in Billboard.
So just exactly how are these trending songs measured? By a few ways, according to Billboard.com:
* the use of, or the inclusion, of a link to the song via music listening platforms, such as Spotify, Vevo and iTunes.
* the use of various track sharing notations, such as the hashtags “#nowplaying” or “#np,” along with song/artist name.
* the use of various terms associated with the song and song playing, such as “music,” “song,” “track,” “listen.”
According to Twitter, music is the most discussed subject on the platform and these charts are designed to work with exactly how users share and interact with that music — exciting news for social media users and music lovers alike. We’re enthusiastic to see how this introduction shapes the music industry, and how artists may focus more of their efforts on reaching Billboard’s Trending 140 or Emerging Artists. Kudos to Twitter and Billboard for a genius idea almost anyone can appreciate.