Billboard magazine publishers of the iconic Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts will change the way it applies streaming data to its charts with greater emphasis given to paid subscription streams, with ad-supported activity remaining an important factor on the album and songs charts.
Currently, Billboard has two types of streaming plays for the Hot 100 songs chart (and its other genre-specific hybrid songs charts): on-demand (such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube) and programmed (such as Pandora and Slacker Radio), with on-demand having a greater weight.
Starting from the end of June, plays on paid subscription-based services (such as Apple Music and Amazon Music) or on the paid subscription tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported platforms (such as Spotify and SoundCloud) will be given more weight in chart calculations than plays on ad-supported services (such as YouTube) or on the non-paid tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported services.
Streaming plays will be added in to radio airplays and digital song sales data to form the charts. Streaming will remain the most dominant factor on the chart, followed by radio airplay and digital sales in descending order of significance.
The change in Billboard’s chart methodology reflects the need to measure streams in a revenue-reflective and access-based manner. Music is now being consumed on streaming services in more diverse ways, migrating from a pure on-demand experience to a more diverse selection of listening preferences (including playlists and radio) and the various options in which a consumer can access music differs based on their subscription commitment.
Beginning in 2019, the Billboard 200 chart will further separate paid subscription audio streams into two distinctive tiers, with the higher tier including paid subscriptions that provide full music library access and no restrictions on on-demand functionality and a secondary tier that reflects paid subscriptions that provide a partial music library and/or limited on-demand functionality.
For full details of how the charts are calculated see Billboard Finalizes Changes to How Streams Are Weighted for Billboard Hot 100 & Billboard 200
