Rihanna, Em, Nicki Top Brand New Billboard Social Networking Chart

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have all landed at the top of the Social 50, a brand new chart being introduced by Billboard in its print and online editions, ranking the most popular artists on several prominent social networks. The new Social 50 uses a formula that blends the artists’ popularity based […]

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have all landed at the top of the Social 50, a brand new chart being introduced by Billboard in its print and online editions, ranking the most popular artists on several prominent social networks. The new Social 50 uses a formula that blends the artists’ popularity based on their weekly addition of friends, fans and followers, based on song plays through MySpace.com, YouTube.com, Twitter.com and iLike.com. According to Billboard, the data is collected by Next Big Sound, a company that tracks music being shared on the social networks. The chart also uses a “unique metric that measures the ration of page views-to-fans/friend on YouTube.com and MySpace.com. “The Social 50 provides a weekly snapshot of the artists with whom music fans engage with the most in the social arena, which in today’s world is a significant validation of their investment in an act,” said Billboard director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo. “The chart is a logical complement to Billboard’s other popularity rankings.”Rihanna toped the chart by leading in new friends, fans and followers for the week, while Justin Bieber landed at #2, Eminem is sitting at #3, #4 is Lady Gaga and newcomer Nicki Minaj landed out the list at #5.  “The volume of online activity that top artists now receive is too big to ignore,” added Next Big Sound CEO, Alex White. “We are thrilled that social music activity now receives the same emphasis as the music charts for which Billboard is synonymous.”