ROLLING STONE IN UNCHARTED WATERS

Rolling Stone’s highly touted new charts are said to be delayed—according to one source at a major distributor—and it’s rumored that the Jay Penske-owned publication’s rollout is on hold for now because it failed to secure the necessary data agreements from the DSPs.

RS had announced on 5/8 that its daily Top 100 singles chart and weekly Top 200 albums and Top 500 artists would launch on 5/13; the accompanying hype claimed that these charts would surpass Billboard in transparency. Penke’s media empire also includes Variety and Deadline Hollywood, among other properties.

Is the consumer-facing brand’s struggle here another example of civilians wading into industry waters and quickly getting in over their heads? Stay tuned.