YouTube Streaming Data Will Return to the Billboard Charts

YouTube’s global head of music Lyor Cohen said in a blog post Monday (Nov. 9) that the company’s streaming data will return to Billboard’s charts, resuming in 2027.

The blog post follows Billboard’s announcement earlier on Monday that the chart methodology will change to narrow the ratio between paid/subscription streams and ad-supported streams to 1:1.5 after previously having been at a 1:2.5 ratio.

“We are returning to the Billboard charts starting in 2027,” Cohen wrote, in a two-line update to YouTube’s original announcement from December 2025 that it was pulling out of the charts. “Billboard’s new methodology better reflects how fans engage with music today across both subscription and ad-supported services.”

Effective Jan. 16 (reflecting data from Jan. 1-7), each album consumption unit on the Billboard 200 will equal 1,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid-subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Currently, the Billboard 200 considers each album consumption unit as equal to 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs on an album. Each album consumption unit equals one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album.

YouTube withdrew its streaming data from the Billboard charts earlier this year, beginning with the charts dated Jan. 31, in response to Billboard’s announcement that paid/subscription streams would be weighed against ad-supported streams at a 1:2.5 ratio.

YouTube was first included as part of the Billboard charts in 2013, when its streaming data was incorporated into Billboard’s song charts, including the Hot 100. Billboard was the first to include YouTube’s streaming data in charts. In 2019, Billboard began incorporating YouTube streaming data into the Billboard 200.

Paid/subscription streams were first weighted higher than ad-supported streams on the Billboard charts in 2019, and international organizations including the IFPI also began to incorporate weighted systems. At the time, Billboard wrote, “It is Billboard’s belief that assigning values to the levels of consumer engagement and access — along with the compensation derived from those options — better reflects the varied user activity occurring on these services.”