May 6, 2026 · Tags: music history, fun facts, TikTok
I just learned something that made me feel like I'd been walking around with my eyes half-closed my whole life.
Billboard — the magazine that makes the charts, the one that tells us which songs are #1, the publication synonymous with the music industry — started out as a trade magazine for the billboard advertising industry.
Let that sink in.
- William Donaldson and James Hennegan launch a publication called Billboard Advertising. Not as a metaphor. Not because "billboard" sounded cool. Because they were writing for people who — you guessed it — erected and sold advertising on physical billboards.
The chain of events that got them from there to "Hot 100" goes like this: billboards → the things on billboards (circus posters, burlesque shows, theater) → coin-operated machines → jukeboxes → music. It took decades, but eventually the music coverage ate the whole magazine.
This Is a Pattern #
Billboard isn't alone in having a random corporate origin story. The pattern is almost a genre:
- Guinness Book of World Records — started by the people who make the dark beer. Sir Hugh Beaver wanted to settle pub arguments.
- Michelin Guide — started by the tire company. They figured if people knew about great restaurants a short drive away, they'd need more tires. Brilliant.
Alex Falcone, the comedian who posted this, frames it perfectly:
"It's like if I found out the Pitchfork people originally started a blog about how to move hay."
He then goes on to name-drop Hay & Forage Grower magazine, a very real publication that really does publish an annual alfalfa variety rating guide. Genuinely fun bit.
The Full Transcript #
I just learned a fun fact that was hanging out in plain sight and I somehow missed it until now. So I think it's funny when companies have side hustles that become so successful we forget where they came from.
Like the Guinness Book of World Records was started by the people who make very dark beer. And Michelin, the food blog for rich people, was started by Michelin, the tire company. They figured if people knew about a bunch of great restaurants that were a short drive away, they would need more tires.
But the one I just learned is that Billboard, the magazine that talks about music and has lists of the top pop songs, used to be about billboards. It started out in 1894 as a trade magazine for people in the billboard industry. And I thought it was just like a metaphor, I guess. But nope, these were actual billboard people.
It's like if I found out the Pitchfork people originally started a blog about how to move hay. No, the trade publication you're thinking about is Hay & Forage Grower magazine. They don't care about music, but they do have an annual alfalfa variety rating guide. And I won't spoil the 2026 ratings for you, but I can tell you it's not Spreader 5 because that does not have the multiplicative expression you'd expect.
Eventually Billboard expanded to cover the things on the billboards like circuses and burlesque and then they got into coin-operated machines, and that's how they got into jukeboxes and then music. I just wish they were true to their roots. Like every once in a while they should run an article that's like "the biggest and best restaurant billboard ever made." And then somewhere in the world, the Michelin man would read that while throwing back a Guinness and going, "stay in your lane, billboard freaks."
Content sourced from @alex_falcone on TikTok and historical records of Billboard magazine's founding.