We’ve seen plenty of changes to the Billboard charts in recent years, but a big one that has now been installed in terms of the 200 Albums Chart has been announced today.
Starting early next year, Billboard will factor YouTube streams as part of the formula.
Video streams for platforms like Apple, Spotify, TIDAL and VEVO will also count, as the company looks to change the way they do things moving forward.
This will impact genre consumption for country, Latin and others.
Streams have been a factor in terms of songs, but this is the first time Billboard is implementing it into albums. Up until recently (five years ago), Spotify and Apple Music were added as a factor in album-ranking metrics, but the company is moving towards a “multi-metric consumption” model for the future.
We’re sure this will impact how albums climb up the charts and there will be some anomalies sooner than later. The changes kick in starting January 18, 2020.