YouTube will officially return to the Billboard chart, bringing an end to the disagreement between the two parties regarding how music streaming services should be included in the chart rankings.
Billboard announced on Monday that YouTube will resume sharing streaming data with them in 2027. This move comes shortly after the latest adjustments to the Billboard ranking formula, which now gives greater weight to advertising-supported streaming services.
This disagreement began in December 2025, when YouTube indicated that it would stop sharing its streaming data with Billboard. YouTube believes that the ranking formula favors paid subscriptions and does not fully reflect the fans who listen to music through free channels with advertisements.
At that time, YouTube, the global music director of Lyor Cohen, criticized this system in a blog post, stating that it did not reflect the way people listen to music today.
“Billboard uses an outdated formula that assigns more weight to streaming media supported by subscriptions than to that supported by advertisements. This does not reflect how fans interact with music today, and it also ignores the significant engagement brought by fans who do not subscribe. Streaming media is the primary way people experience music, accounting for 84% of revenue from recorded music in the United States.” Cohen writes.
According to the formula before Billboard, 1,000 paid streaming plays have the same metric effect as 2,500 ad-supported streaming plays. YouTube believes that this assigns too much importance to paid listening, especially when millions of fans discover and support artists through free streaming.
Billboard has now updated its formula, narrowing the gap between these two types of streaming media. According to the new system, 1,000 paid streaming media plays are equivalent to 1,500 ad-supported streaming media plays, whereas previously the ratio was 1,000 to 2,500. Paid streaming media will still count more, but free streaming media now has a greater impact on chart positions.
The return of YouTube may have an impact on many artists, especially independent musicians and those with a large international fan base. Music videos, live performances, lyric videos, and other content on platforms all help artists reach new audiences. As the data from YouTube is re-included in the statistics, more of these activities will now be counted towards their performance on Billboard.
For Billboard, regaining the data of YouTube also means being able to understand more fully how people listen to music and how they discover it. With so many fans using this platform, excluding its streaming data would mean missing an important part of music consumption.
