Fredric M. "Fred" Bronson (born January 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author and writer. He is the author of books related to number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and other books related to various music charts as well. He is also known for his appearances on American Idol and the weekly "Chart Beat" column in Billboard magazine.

The 5th edition of The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits was published in 2003. The 4th edition of Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits was published in 2007. Bronson is also the author of The Billboard Book of Number One R&B Hits (with Adam White), American Bandstand (with Dick Clark) and The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook, written at the behest of the seven actors who played the von Trapp children in the 1965 film.

Born to Irving and Mildred Bronson and raised in Culver City, California. At age five, he was selected to portray actor/writer/producer Jack Webb as a child in a series of photographs in the May 1954 issue of Cosmopolitan. Bronson showed an early aptitude for gauging the popularity of artists and songs. At age eleven, Bronson won a contest in the Los Angeles Mirror-News requiring him to select favorites in several music categories. His prize was a lunch with actress Connie Stevens. As Bronson later wrote, "I realized that keeping track of records and artists wasn't such a bad idea."

One of Bronson's earliest published works was in the first letters column of The Amazing Spider-Man, in issue 3, published in 1962. A follow-up letter was printed in The Amazing Spider-Man No. 608, published 47 years later. His letters were also published on a regular basis in issues of Superman, Action Comics, Adventure Comics, The Flash and other DC Comics publications.

From 1971 to 1982, he was a publicist for NBC-TV in Burbank, California. Bronson handled publicity for a number of TV series, including Sanford and Son, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, B. J. and the Bear, Man from Atlantis, The Bionic Woman, Police Story, Police Woman, Bonanza, Quark, Joe & Valerie, Voyagers!, The Powers of Matthew Star, Hollywood Squares, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, and the Bob Hope specials.

Bronson's regular Chart Beat column appeared weekly in Billboard magazine from January 1993, when he took over from Paul Grein who originated the column in March 1981, until April 2005, when it was transferred completely to Billboard.com. The online Chart Beat Chat column appeared at Billboard.com from April 1996 until March 5, 2009. Both dealt with notable activity on the Billboard charts including the Billboard Hot 100 for songs and Billboard 200 for albums. His new Billboard column, This Week In Billboard History, launched on the www.billboard.biz website on December 6, 2011. Bronson also co-created the syndicated comic strip Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember in 1995 with Dick Clark and art work by Don Sherwood.

Bronson has written for numerous award shows including both the World Music Awards and American Music Awards. He has also appeared as a repertoire expert four times on American Idol, during Seasons 2, 4, 7 and 9. He was seen on March 11, 2008, discussing the oeuvre of Lennon–McCartney and on March 23, 2010, talking about the history of Billboard and the Hot 100. He was identified as "Author, Billboard Books." As in episodes from seasons two and four, his Number One Hits book was the exclusive basis of repertoire selection. His book also served as source material for the first episode of CMT's series, CMT's Next Superstar. Bronson appeared on the first episode as a guest judge, along with Kristin Chenoweth and permanent judge Matt Serletic. The series premiered on April 8, 2011, the eighth anniversary of Bronson's first appearance on American Idol.

Bronson's musical preferences were heard on his own radio program Pop Goes the World and the online radio station Radio Fred Bronson. For seven years, he wrote The Billboard Radio Countdown, a weekly webcast hosted by Billboard magazine's writer and editor Chuck Taylor.