YouTube to Resume Billboard Data in 2027 After Formula Change

YouTube will resume providing streaming data to Billboard charts in 2027 after Billboard changed its formula for counting paid and ad-supported streams, YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen announced. The return reverses YouTube’s decision to withdraw its data from the charts in 2025 amid objections to how the two types of listening were weighted.

Under Billboard’s revised album-consumption formula, 1,000 paid streams will equal 1,500 ad-supported streams, compared with 2,500 ad-supported streams under the previous system. Paid streams will continue to carry greater weight, but the gap between paid and ad-supported listening will narrow.

Billboard’s updated methodology takes effect January 16, 2027, and Billboard 200 data under the new formula will reflect streams from January 17, according to the published schedule. For the Billboard 200, an album-consumption unit also corresponds to one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album.

Cohen announced YouTube’s return in an update to the company’s earlier blog post. He said Billboard’s revised approach better reflects how fans listen to music across subscription and ad-supported services. YouTube’s data will again count...