YouTube is pulling its data from Billboard for use in the publisher’s industry-leading U.S. music charts. This decision is a response to a recent change Billboard made to its ranking formula, which continues to add more weight to paid, on-demand streaming compared with ad-supported, free streaming.
Billboard justified its decision to adjust its formula by saying the change will better reflect an increase in streaming revenue and changing consumer behaviors. In other words, streaming now matters more than buying albums or songs, and it wants its charts to reflect that.
However, YouTube disagrees with the new formula. The company does not want there to be much differentiation between free and paid streams, especially if the changes are meant to reflect how consumers enjoy music today. YouTube stated that Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported streams. This, according to YouTube, does not reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who do not have a subscription.
Streaming is the primary way people experience music, making up 84 percent of U.S. recorded music revenue. YouTube’s position is that every stream should be counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported, because every fan matters and every play should count.
The ranking changes will be reflected starting with the charts published on January 17, which will include data from January 2-8, 2026. This will impact the Billboard 200 lists and genre-based album charts. Additionally, the ratio between paid and ad-supported on-demand streaming will be adjusted to 2.5:1 for the Billboard Hot 100.
To protest the new formula, YouTube said it will no longer provide data to Billboard after January 16, 2026.
Here is what that change means in practice. Under the revised calculation, it will take 33.3 percent fewer ad-supported on-demand streams of songs from an album, and 20 percent fewer paid on-demand streams of songs from an album, to equal one album unit. In short, it will take fewer streams than before for an album to climb the charts. This is a win for streaming in general, but not necessarily for YouTube.
Currently, Billboard defines an album unit as one album sale. It also counts 10 individual song sales from an album as one album unit. On the streaming side, an album unit currently equals 3,750 ad-supported streams or 1,250 paid subscription streams.
After the changes, those figures will be adjusted. It will then take 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid subscription streams to count as one album unit. This means paid streams count 2.5 times as much as ad-supported streams. While that is a smaller gap than the current 3:1 ratio, it is still not what YouTube prefers.
By not cooperating with Billboard, YouTube’s music data will not be considered in chart rankings. This could lead record labels and artists to deprioritize publishing their music on YouTube. That is not a good long-term strategy for YouTube as an important player in the streaming music era, which is why this move should be viewed as a negotiation tactic.
YouTube concluded by stating it is committed to achieving equitable representation across the charts and hopes to work with Billboard to return to theirs.