Twitter has teamed up with Billboard for an all-new music chart.

As a space where fans and artists connect, Twitter continues to play a big part in the world of music. Last month, the social media platform and Billboard launched the new Hot Trending Songs chart, a real-time ranking of the most discussed songs on Twitter globally.

Introducing Billboard #HotTrending Songs Powered by Twitter 📈 The new chart, presented by @RemyMartinUS, provides a real-time ranking of the most-discussed songs on the platform globally. #BillboardNews pic.twitter.com/XZr9IfXpHG

— billboard (@billboard) October 22, 2021

It doesn't matter if the music just dropped or if it made a comeback as a blast from the past. As long as there's buzz or conversation around it, this song could make it to the Hot Trending Songs chart. As of press time, the likes of BTS, BLACKPINK's Lisa, Harry Styles, and P-Pop act SB19 are currently charting on the Top 20.

Bandwagon caught up with Carl Cheng, Twitter's Head of Entertainment Partnerships in Southeast Asia & Greater China, to talk about how the Hot Trending Songs chart works and more.

Twitter is powering the new Billboard chart Hot Trending Songs. How did this idea come about?

Twitter has become a place where music fans and artists connect. And for years, excitement about music—including both new releases and old classics—has dominated the conversation on Twitter. We wanted a way to demonstrate how Twitter can ignite or reignite a song or artist. 

Together with Billboard, we wanted to diversify how we track trends within music. We also wanted to showcase the results of what music fans are doing on the platform and there was no better partner than Billboard to bring it to life for the music fans around the world.

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Having a Billboard chart for what songs people are talking about on Twitter is a very 2021 concept. Can you share with us how Twitter helps gather the data and information needed for the chart?

Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs Chart provides a real-time ranking of the most discussed songs on Twitter globally during the past 24 hours and past week. The data is collected twice per week and then ranked 1-10 based on total mentions of specific songs.

The #HotTrendingSongs, Powered by Twitter top 10 (chart dated Nov. 6, 2021)

Presented by @RemyMartinUS

— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) November 2, 2021

Is Twitter looking to get involved in similar ventures? Will Twitter have their own charts and rankings as well—for film and TV and gaming?

The Twitter team loves leaning on data and insights for each of our activations with various partners. Billboard and Twitter are uniquely positioned to give fans a window into trending music culture and to give brand partners a chance to be a part of the Twitter trending conversations in a consistent and impactful way.

The learnings from this activation are already helping to inform other trending charts that we are jointly pursuing with other Twitter partners. For example, we recently partnered with Variety on a unique, first-of-its-kind chart that ranks the most Tweeted about TV shows across network television and streaming.

How can Twitter drive more conversations online with this new chart?

Just like Billboard’s well-known Hot 100 Chart, we think the Hot Trending Songs Chart will provide a clear view on what is being talked about in the music world; and provide another fun, music-related item to kick-start conversation on social channels like Twitter. We believe the surprise factor of which songs and artists appear on each updated chart will open eyes to the popularity of various genres of music around the world, and encourage people to check out different types of music. 

Check out the Hot Trending Songs in real-time here.