Billboard Magazine

A 2 year subscription for $99.  Okay, I'll take that Billboard deal.  The first Billboard magazine I bought was in 1977.  Hearing Casey Kasem count down the Top 40 from that magazine always had me looking out for one.  A year later I subscribed to it (along with Rolling Stone), having saved money from working with my Mom at a hotel on weekends and school vacations.

I stuck with it until the late 90's, then along came the Internet and you could look up any music charts you wanted.  But I would still buy the odd issue, mostly the year-end one.

So, when I got this deal in the mail, I went for it.  And I can certainly tell you that this isn't your old Billboard.  Yes, all the charts are still there.  And there's more of them, geared toward the online world.  But it's  glossier now, almost feels like reading a fashion magazine.  There's some good, exclusive articles and still just enough info scattered throughout for chart nerds like me.  It's still the bible of the chart world because it has outlasted all the others.  And we still get those awesome Joel Whitburn books from their charts.

But it's pricey without the discount that I got.  And I wouldn't have done it otherwise.  If you are an old chart nerd like me, picking up one (if you can find it in a bookstore) every now and then will bring back memories.  But the one-click away world means you don't really need a physical copy.  And that's kind of sad for people like me who used to store a year's worth in my bedroom closet.