YouTube will once again be part of Billboard chart calculations in 2027
Billboard will give more weight to free, ad-supported listening in its methodology.
Billboard will once again include YouTube's data in its chart calculations starting in 2027. The music industry publication recently decided to stop sharing YouTube's performance with Billboard in December 2025. Billboard claimed that their charting methodology did not adequately account for free, ad-supported listening on YouTube.
However, the new rules from Billboard aim to better represent how fans consume music through both subscription and ad-supported services. In January 2027, Billboard will start counting 1,500 ad-supported streams as equal to one album sale or 1,000 streams from paying listeners. This adjustment marks a shift from the previous requirement of 2,500 ad-supported streams to make one album consumption unit.
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