The Gamification of Pop Music

On April 9, Billboard announced a new app called the Hot 100 Challenge. The publication, known for producing weekly music charts, offered “fantasy-sports-style gameplay” for pop music fans. In the app, players listened to songs and predicted the peak position those songs would reach on the Hot 100 chart before the “season” ended on July 16. The closer the guess, the more points the player would get. If they predicted correctly, they’d earn 7,500 points. If their guess was within one position, they’d be given 4,999 points. If their guess was within 10 positions, they would earn 4,945 points, and so on.