YouTube and Billboard are set to reconnect. According to a report from Hip-Hop Network’s source material, the video platform has announced that its streams will count toward the Billboard charts again beginning in 2027.
YouTube Announces Its Return
On Monday (Nov. 9), Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, shared the news in a blog post. “We are returning to the Billboard charts starting in 2027. Billboard’s new methodology better reflects how fans engage with music today across both subscription and ad-supported services,” he wrote.
The announcement follows YouTube’s decision to stop sending data to Billboard in January 2026 for use in chart rankings. At the time, the company argued that Billboard relied on an outdated formula that gave more weight to subscription-supported streams than to ad-supported ones. YouTube later launched its own music charts for fans who wanted to see what was trending on the platform.
Billboard’s Updated Formula
After YouTube’s announcement, Billboard said that effective Jan. 16, 2027, with tracking based on data gathered Jan. 1-7, the Billboard 200 will count one album consumption unit as equal to 1,500 ad-tier streams or 1,000 paid subscription-based official video and audio plays from a project’s tracklist.
Under the current rules, the Billboard 200 treats one album consumption unit as equal to 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid or subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs on an album. Each unit also equals one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album. In short, the new formula lowers the number of ad-supported streams needed to earn a unit.
What It Could Mean for Hip-Hop
The change could matter for hip-hop artists. Brian Zisook, co-founder of Audiomack and a music industry expert, said the “change to ad-supported consumption on DSPs will carry significantly more weight, leading to greater representation for hip-hop and Latin [music] on the Billboard charts.”
The source material also points to a Billboard video that looks at how hip-hop changed the Billboard music charts over the genre’s 50-year history.
The details come from a report on YouTube and Billboard’s planned reunion, which marks a notable shift after nearly a year of YouTube operating outside the Billboard chart ecosystem.
Source: xxlmag.com
Image: Daniel Schröder / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
