YouTube protests Billboard’s new formula by pulling data from music charts

YouTube and Billboard can’t agree on the best way to count digital viewership for the latter company’s pop music rankings, so YouTube is taking its proverbial ball and going home. The video hub has chosen to withdraw its data from the Billboard charts as a protest against recent adjustments to the music publication’s weighting formula.

Viewership data from YouTube was first factored into the Billboard charts in 2013. The move seemed uncontroversial on the surface; with its embrace of YouTube, Billboard accounted for the shifting media diet of the average music consumer.

Immediately, however, the YouTube data warped the charts. Baauer’s ‘Harlem Shake,’ an unassuming EDM tune that happened to be the soundtrack for a tidal wave of memes, shot to the top of the Hot 100.

The chart-topping performance of the ‘Harlem Shake’ exemplified the inherent flaws of Billboard’s formula. The song didn’t owe its popularity to intrinsic qualities, but rather to its role in a viral fad. In theory, any other EDM song with a big drop could have been the soundtrack for that meme. The ‘Harlem Shake’ just happened to occupy that role.

The importance of the Billboard charts depends on their ability to accurately reflect cultural tastes, and with a 2018 update, the publication tried to move closer to reality. It increased the weight of listens that came from subscription-based streaming services (such as Apple Music or Spotify), thus limiting the importance of ad-supported streams on platforms like YouTube.

A recent blog post published by Billboard forecasted future changes to the formula. Beginning in 2026, on-demand streams of both the ad-supported and subscription-based varieties will be weighted more favorably in comparison to album sales.

That change will actually tighten the ratio between ad-supported streams and subscription-based streams, but the update doesn’t go far enough for YouTube’s liking. The official stance of YouTube Head of Music Lyor Cohen is that “every play should count equally,” and since Billboard won’t commit to that equilibrium, YouTube is pulling its data from the charts.

“Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported,” Cohen wrote in a blog post. “This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription.”

Rather than working with Billboard, YouTube is promoting its own music charts, which it updates on a weekly basis. Cohen wrote that the in-house charts identify “what music is making waves on YouTube,” but given how much the platform seems to be exaggerating its viewership numbers these days, it’s fair to question whether the accounting of those charts is any more fair than Billboard’s version.

Ultimately, in the fragmented pop culture reality we live in, it’s hard to say whether any particular track can dominate the zeitgeist. Both Billboard and YouTube use flawed methodologies to inform their estimates, and working separately from one another won’t change that truth.