Billboard Is Changing Its Albums Chart To Count Video Plays From YouTube

Billboard has announced that video and audio data from YouTube, along with visual plays from several music streaming services, will soon be factored into the Billboard 200 albums chart. In addition to YouTube, officially licensed video content plays from Apple, Spotify, Tidal and Vevo will be included in the album chart's calculations. From the report: The inclusion of video data into the Billboard 200 arrives five years after audio streams were added, marking the chart's shift from a measure of pure sales to a consumption model. The addition of video will also impact Billboard's genre album consumption charts, such as Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Latin and others. While YouTube streams have factored into the Billboard Hot 100 and other song-specific charts since February 2013, this marks a first for the album charts. In contrast with song charts, which can be impacted by user-generated videos, only official licensed video content uploaded by or on behalf of rights holders will be counted for the Billboard 200 and other albums charts. The changes take effect with the charts dated Jan. 18, 2020, which will reflect sales and streams for the period of Jan. 3-9.

Rick Roll

[uncoveror]

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley will be charting again.

Re:

[Aighearach]

It isn't a bad song.

Golly, considering slashdot history, I never really understood why it was a "prank." I just assume whoever does it is a superfan.

Nearly free views count too

[rmdingler]

"Genres like Latin, hip-hop and electronic, which consistently dominate the YouTube charts, will now be properly recognized for their popularity."

I, too, listen to music on Youtube, though not that shite, and thank goodness the fraction of a cent per view actually winds up in the pocket of the artist.

That's all they used to get from the big recording studios, anyway, as a perk for being allowed to become famous, until a few became famous enough to get a second contract.

Re:

[BlueStrat]

"Genres like Latin, hip-hop and electronic, which consistently dominate the YouTube charts, will now be properly recognized for their popularity."

I, too, listen to music on Youtube, though not that shite, and thank goodness the fraction of a cent per view actually winds up in the pocket of the artist.

That's all they used to get from the big recording studios, anyway, as a perk for being allowed to become famous, until a few became famous enough to get a second contract.

All I hope is that maybe by some miracle in the train wreck this is likely to be, that some incredibly talented and deserving artists that haven't gotten the kind of worldwide promotion they deserve see some benefit.

There's bands like the incredible Nightwish from Finland that are huge in the EU and have toured the US before but never really widely promoted in the

Wait a second...

[The New Guy 2.0]

YouTube makes sense on the singles charts... but ALBUMS... no. Albums are collections of about 10 to 12 songs. YouTube videos are singles. No match.

Re:

[alvinrod]

There are a lot of YouTube videos that are just the entire album. Toss in a random search for Artist + Album and you'll probably find two or three different uploads. It's one of the main reasons I use YouTube for music because I can get an entire album and listen to it. I've discovered a fair amount of music this way, so I think there's something to it. My main worry would be that since YouTube is so easy to bot for fake view counts that this is really just going to encourage all kinds of negative behavior,

Re:

[gl4ss]

none of those are plays that should be included in the top 200 billboard albums for various reasons though.

and they just don't do that anyways. furthermore it's not loans or rentals or whatever chart - this is a chart mixed with full sales of albums.

anyhow, billboards dead already. nobody cares about it or looks something up on the list to make a decision to purchase something. might just as well listen to it on youtube you know, don't need to buy stuff without listening.

Re:

[Aighearach]

This is probably not about different uploads, but about the playlists that youtube creates where the content is the song tracks uploaded by the record label.

When one song on the album has a video and the other songs don't, the playlist will often include the official video uploaded by the record label, and rest of the songs as Youtube Music plays that were uploaded by youtube based on licensing the catalog.

For kpop charts it was already done this way, with both the albums and individual songs counting.

Re:

[Aighearach]

Youtube makes playlists of all the albums, though.

You click on the album, and it plays the collection of songs. In order, even.

100% match.

NewRetroWave

[AHuxley]

Some chart time for NewRetroWave
https://www.youtube.com/user/N... [youtube.com]

Re:

[thereitis]

Nice playlist. I randomly picked this NINA song which uses footage from GTA V in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rCzIwlX8Dg [youtube.com]

Whoa

[Tumbleweed]

This is going to be HUGE for K-Pop! Blackpink's video for Ddu-du Ddu-du just passed a billion views recently, and it's only from last year.

Baby Shark...

[harlequinn]

If only Billboard would recognize the musical brilliance of Pinkfong's Baby Shark.

At 4.128 BILLION views I'm pretty sure it smashes everything else into the dust.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Re:

[blindseer]

What the freak was that?

The business model, again

[Raymond Berry]

Billboard, whose charts have had less relevance than ever in the digital age, are still playing catch up. The trade rags from the vinyl era of music, which were originally used by radio station programmers, seem completely lost in today's far less constricted marketplace for music. The streaming model is where the numbers are at, and where the revenue is made these days. YouTube, in one sense, has become the master distributor instead of retailers, which is why takedowns of some music is becoming trouble

Meaningless Numbers

[nagora]

If the punter didn't shell out cash and specifically ask for you music, it isn't a sale. Radio, streaming, YouTube - none of it should have any effect on the charts. Who cares if you're #1 if the listeners don't think your music is worth a penny?