Billboard Adds YouTube, Video Plays To Album Charts

Billboard will now count video plays from YouTube, Apple, Vevo, and Tidal when calculating its Billboard 200 album chart.

Video views, which will be added starting January 3rd, will become a factor in the calculation of the trade’s genre-specific album charts as well. The changes take effect with album charts dated January 18, 2020, which will reflect sales and streams for the period of January 3-9.

YouTube views have been a part of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart since 2013.

“With video representing an increasingly large proportion of music consumption on some of the world’s largest platforms, the inclusion of YouTube and video overall to the Billboard 200 as well as other genre rankings is the next natural advancement for our album charts,” said Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard SVP Charts and Data Development.

“Genres like Latin, hip-hop and electronic, which consistently dominate the YouTube charts, will now be properly recognized for their popularity,” Lyor Cohen, global head of music at YouTube told Billboard. “This is another great step in bringing YouTube and the industry together and we’re so grateful to Billboard and the music business at large for making this addition.”

“As the steward of the definitive charts that uphold the industry’s measurement of music consumption, our goal is to continually respond and accurately reflect the changing landscape of the music,” said Billboard and Hollywood Reporter Media Group president Deanna Brown. “Our decision to add YouTube and other video streaming data to our album charts reflects the continuing evolution of the music consumption market and the ways in which consumers connect to album-related content.”

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