Idolator is a music blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

. Created by the blog network

Blog network

A blog network is a group of blogs that are connected to each other in a network. A blog network can either be a group of loosely connected blogs, or a group of blogs that are owned by the same company. The purpose of such a network is usually to promote the other blogs in the same network and...

 Gawker Media

Gawker Media

Gawker Media is an American online media company and blog network, founded and owned by Nick Denton based in New York City. It is considered to be one of the most visible and successful blog-oriented media companies. , it is the parent company for 11 different weblogs: Gawker.com, Fleshbot,...

 in August 2006, Idolator was later sold to rival blog network Buzz Media

Buzz Media

Buzz Media is a company and blog network based in Los Angeles. It owns the world's largest community of pop culture websites , including Buzznet, Idolator, and Stereogum...

, which also owns music blog Stereogum

Stereogum

Stereogum was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's...

. From the 2007 departure of original head writer Brian Raftery until November 2009, the blog's head writer was Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston is a writer, editor and music critic who is currently the music editor for The Village Voice.She has instructed a course entitled "Writing about Popular Music" at New York University since 2010....

, who was the sole remaining original contributor for the blog before her departure. In April 2009, other contributors to the blog were laid off by Buzz Media. After her departure, several contributors and regular commenters started a Tumblr

Tumblr

Tumblr is a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private. The service emphasizes ease of use. The site ranks as the 10th...

 blog called Chain of Knives in style of Idolator. The current writers of Idolator are Becky Bain and Robbie Daw.

Idolator has had several moments of controversy, including one that was initiated by a post made by the blog that claimed that a post made by Wired News

Wired News

Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...

 made several predictions that Idolator believed were widely inaccurate. The blog also took advantage of controversy surrounding the Pazz & Jop

Pazz & Jop

The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...

 critics' poll by The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

in November 2006.