By Monday the 13th of May, Rolling Stone will have launched their very own music chart to compete with the likes of Billboard, and well... just Billboard for the time being. As it stands, Billboard Magazine occupies a hegemony over public charting data, be it rankings, calculations, or residual profits.
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The primary motivation behind the project is to create a "transparent, granular and real-time quantification system" in the post-analog world. Rolling Stone is owned by the Penske Media Corp. based out of New York and Los Angeles. The publishment giant announced their intentions in a press release written by CEO Jay Penske.
"PMC’s strategy is to constantly evolve our brands and products across media platforms," Penske said in his statement. “What’s imperative and exciting about our new Rolling Stone Charts is that it will present a transparent, granular and real-time quantification to accurately reflect listeners’ evolving interests and give insight into worldwide trends."
Rolling Stone's new ranking system will launch with two concurrent lists: the Top 100 singles and the Top 200 albums in the US, updated on a weekly basis. Within the depository, Rolling Stone will also maintain a Top 500 Artist page, ranking the highest streaming artists at any given time (driven by US data), as well as a "Trending 25" ranking "fast-moving songs" up the streaming ladder.