In this business, “top stories” is a relative term: owing to the vagaries of the Internet, you can never tell what your most popular articles will be. This year, our numeric best-performing stories were led by Billboard’s “Power 100” of the top execs in the music industry, by a long shot — which isn’t surprising — and largely followed in the top 15 ” 40 Under 40,” The Billboard Music Awards livestream, and other Billboard-specific articles. While we’re certainly proud of those stories, they don’t really provide a year-end news picture.
The Year In Music: 2012 Charts, Plus Execs, Deals, Tours & More to Watch in 2013!
So, with that in mind — and with approximately nine hours left in 2012 — we’ve listed our top-10 best-performing news stories, and then broken down the top-5 performers by category or genre (Touring, Latin, EDM, etc.). While there are definitely surprises — our top news story of the year was a chart story about Mumford, No Doubt debuting in the top 3 of the Billboard 200 (thanks to Reddit); but Lyor Cohen leaving Warner Music, for example, didn’t even make the top 150 — we think you’ll agree they provide a glimpse of the year every bit as fascinating as the others in our 2012 year-end special. Two interesting notes: our no. 3 story for the year (“PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ Video Hits 1 Billion Views”) was published on December 21, and our no. 4 story was Ray Waddell’s September exclusive about the Rolling Stones playing in London and Brooklyn.
Here’s to 2013!
Top 10 News Articles
1. Mumford & Sons, Green Day, No Doubt Albums Debut In Top Three Spots On Billboard 200
2. Electric Daisy Founder Pasquale Rotella: ‘We Don’t Want to Book’ Superstar DJs Anymore
3. PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ Video Hits 1 Billion Views
4. Rolling Stones To Play London, Brooklyn In November: Source
5. Who Was With Jenni Rivera Aboard the Plane That Crashed?
6. Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia’s Sebastian Ingrosso To Captain DJ Charity Soccer Game at Miami Music Week
7. American Music Awards 2012: Rihanna, Nicki Minaj Lead Nominees; Christina Aguilera to Perform
8. Copyright Alert System Coming Within Weeks
9. Rob Wells, Universal Music’s Global Digital Prez: ‘The Idea That Spotify Cannibalizes Sales is Bogus’
10. Jenni Rivera Believed Dead; Plane Wreckage Found
Touring
1. Rolling Stones To Play London, Brooklyn In November: Source
2. Confessions of a Ticket Scalper: Billboard’s Candid Q&A
3. 12-12-12 Sandy Benefit Concert Aims for 2 Billion Viewers Worldwide
4. Live Nation’s Major Gospel Tour to Feature ‘The King’s Men,’ Four Heavyweights of Gospel Music
5. Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way Ball’ Tour to Hit Asia, Europe, Latin America This Year; North America in 2013
Executives
1. Layoffs at Roadrunner Records; Founder/CEO Cees Wessels Stepping Down
2. Berklee College of Music Releases Study Detailing Salary Ranges For Music
Industry Positions
3. David Geffen: ‘I’d Kill Myself’ Rather Than Get Into Music Business Today
4. Scooter Braun, Korean Viral Video Sensation Psy Announce Label Partnership
5. Chris Lighty, Founder of Violator Management and One of Hip-Hop’s All
Time Great Execs, Has Died
Latin
1. Who Was With Jenni Rivera Aboard the Plane That Crashed?
2. Jenni Rivera Believed Dead; Plane Wreckage Found
3. How Michel Telo Went From Obscure Brazilian Country Singer To Global
Superstar
4. Pitbull Says Music Business is ’90 Percent Business, 10 Percent Talent’
at Latin Conference Q&A
5. Exclusive: Prince Royce Signs With Atlantic for English-Language Releases
EDM
1. Electric Daisy Founder Pasquale Rotella: ‘We Don’t Want to Book’ Superstar DJs Anymore
2. Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia’s Sebastian Ingrosso To Captain DJ Charity
Soccer Game at Miami Music Week
3. Exclusive: Six Flags Great Adventure Partnering With Area Event On
‘Electric Adventure’ EDM Fest
4. Why Skrillex, David Guetta, Deadmau5 Aren’t Playing This Weekend’s
Detroit Movement Fest
5. Exclusive: Ultra Music, Ultra Music Festival Announce ‘Global Alliance’
Digital
1. PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ Video Hits 1 Billion Views
2. Rob Wells, Universal Music’s Global Digital Prez: ‘The Idea That Spotify
Cannibalizes Sales is Bogus’
3. Death Grips Top BitTorrent’s List of Most Legally Downloaded Music
4. Business Matters: Why Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ is Absent From Subscription
Services
5. What Really Happened to Sony and Universal’s 2 Billion Missing YouTube Views
Branding
1. How Beats By Dre Got Their Headphones On Olympians’ Ears (Despite
Violating IOC Policy)
2. Auto Tune: Who’s The Girl In That Hyundai TV Commercial?
3. Jay-Z on the Budweiser ‘Made in America’ Fest, Putting New Music On Hold
4. How fun.’s ‘We Are Young’ Scored Chevy’s ‘Stunt Anthem’ Super Bowl Spot
5. Flo Rida’s ‘Good Feeling’ Tapped by Budweiser for Super Bowl Spot