Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Eminem Top Billboard's New Social Media Chart

Tracking who racks up the most friends, fans and followers

Everyone knows celebs like Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Kanye West have gone Gaga for Twitter -- and thanks to Billboard now we know just how active they are as social networkers.

The publication known for all manner of pop charts has a new one that tracks the popularity of music acts on websites such as YouTube, Facebook, iLike and, of course, Twitter.

Called The Social 50, Billboard's newest chart takes info from the data-hounds at Next Big Sound, which looks at all those sites and more, monitoring minute-to-minute online traffic to see which stars are racking up the Big Three Fs: friends, fans and followers.

The initial list has Rihanna nudging out Bieber for the top spot. They both landed ahead of Eminem, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj in the top five on the chart. Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Linkin Park and Shakira are also in the top ten. Kanye, Taylor Swift and Usher were among other A-listers on The Social 50.

"We continue to adapt the way we chart the changing landscape of music," Billboard editorial director Bill Werde said in a statement. "The Social 50 is yet another step in the evolution of Billboard and an important response to our changing times."

The new chart will run every week in Billboard magazine and online at Billboard.com and Billboard.biz.

Finally Mr. West has another reason to rock his keyboard.

Selected Reading: MTV.com, Billboard.com, Rihanna's Twitter.

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