Billboard is a staple of the music industry, and the publication has been tracking the top-selling albums each week since 1940. Of course, the way we consume music has undergone multiple significant changes since then. Most recently, music streaming has completely taken over the industry, with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reporting streaming accounts for 84% of recorded music revenue in the U.S.
Since 2005, YouTube has been one of the biggest music streamers, especially for music videos. The platform began contributing to Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in 2013, and started influencing the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart in 2019. In other words, YouTube has impacted at least one Billboard chart for more than a decade, but that’s all changing next month.
Why YouTube won’t report to Billboard next year
In 2025, tracking the performance of albums and songs is a complicated effort. Music streams, album purchases, and everything in between need to be accounted for. Charts like Billboard use “album units” to gauge a song or album’s relative success. One complete album sale equals an album unit, but multiple individual song purchases, paid song streams, or free and ad-supported song streams can add up to equal an album unit.
YouTube takes exception with that last part of Billboard’s album unit calculation — free or ad-supported streams and paid streams aren’t counted equally. If you stream a song on Spotify with a subscription, it’ll be worth more than a free YouTube stream. Specifically, here’s how Billboard currently calculates an album unit for its charts:
Currently, each album consumption unit equals one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
Billboard
YouTube has had “extensive discussions” with Billboard about its calculations, according to a blog post. Billboard announced plans to add more weight to both paid and free streams earlier this month, which will take effect starting with Billboard charts dated Jan. 17, 2026. Thereafter, an album unit will equal 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid or subscription on-demand streams.
“The change means that it will take 33.3% fewer ad-supported on-demand streams of songs from an album, and 20% fewer paid/subscription on-demand streams of songs from an album, to equal an album unit,” according to Billboard.
So, while Billboard is narrowing the gap between paid and ad-supported streams starting next month, it hasn’t met YouTube’s demand. The Google-owned streaming platform wants full value parity between ad-supported and paid streams. Billboard isn’t budging, at least for now, and thus YouTube is pulling its data from Billboard charts one day before the new streaming values take effect.
Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported… We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported—because every fan matters and every play should count.
YouTube
In YouTube’s blog post, authored by global head of music Lyor Cohen, the company also pointed out that YouTube’s music streaming data includes a mix of paid and ad-supported streams. Some stream with the ad-free YouTube Premium subscription plan, while other stream with the ad-supported free version of YouTube.
A spokesperson for Billboard said in a statement that “there are so many ways a fan can support an artist they love, and each has a specific place in the music ecosystem.”
“Billboard strives to measure that activity appropriately; balanced by various factors including consumer access, revenue analysis, data validation and industry guidance,” the spokesperson for Billboard continued. “It is our hope that YouTube reconsiders and joins Billboard in recognizing the reach and popularity of artists on all music platforms and in celebrating their achievements through the power of fans and how they interact with the music that they love.”
Right now, it appears that both YouTube and Billboard recognize their mutualistic relationship in the music streaming industry, and left the door open for YouTube data returning to the charts. However, neither Billboard nor YouTube sounds ready to concede on the hard stances they’ve taken on album unit consumption weighting.
What it means for YouTube users and the music industry
For users, there will be an impact to the way you consume music on YouTube, with the severity depending on how much you care about supporting your favorite artists. If you want your top songs or albums to help an artist climb the Billboard Hot 100 or Hot 200 charts, you probably shouldn’t stream on YouTube after Jan. 16, 2025.
Additionally, if you follow Billboard charts, expect overall streaming numbers to diminish immediately following the change, as music videos get billions of streams on YouTube. With those streams soon to be no longer factored into Billboard charts, the number of album units calculated overall will almost certainly be lower than usual. Songs, albums, and artists that earn more streams on YouTube than other platforms may see a considerable charting hit compared to others.
There’s also a wider industry concern that music releases on YouTube could be deprioritized by artists and publishers if they are not making an impact on the Billboard charts, which are crucial for gauging an album or song’s success. This sentiment is shared by TechCrunch, and if this turns out to be the case, it could directly affect people who stream music via YouTube.
My take on YouTube’s decision to pull out of Billboard charts is that with this move, everyone loses. Billboard’s data becomes less accurate as it misses out data from a key platform that represents billions of streams. YouTube gives die-hard music fans less of a reason to stream on its platform, and potentially strains its relationship with artists and publishers. And users could see fewer songs uploaded to YouTube if publishers don’t find the platform as attractive.
YouTube’s hard stance on counting ad-supported and paid streams equally is the wrong one. It leaves no room for compromise and would require Billboard to rework its entire notion of an album unit’s worth. Instead, the two companies should work together to find a middle ground, because everyone wins when YouTube contributes to Billboard charts.
