Billboard is an international news weekly magazine devoted to music
and the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in
the world. It publishes sever music charts that track the most popular
songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. The two
most notable charts are the Billboard Hot 100, and the Billboard 200,
the corresponding chart for album sales.
Originally titled Billboard Advertising it 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 Billboard became the paper
of record for circuses, carnivals, amusement parks, fairs, vaudeville,
minstrels, whale shows and other live entertainment. The magazine
began coverage of motion pictures in 1909 and of radio in the 1920s.
With the development of the jukebox industry during the 1930s, The
Billboard began publishing music charts.
Note: In 1954 the November issue of Billboard magazine listed Elvis
Presley at number 8 of the Most Promising New Hillbilly or Country
Singers.
