{"id":247582,"date":"2025-12-17T21:53:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=247582"},"modified":"2025-12-17T22:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:09:01","slug":"billboard-just-made-free-streams-worth-more-on-its-us-charts-youtube-is-still-not-happy-and-is-pulling-its-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/billboard-just-made-free-streams-worth-more-on-its-us-charts-youtube-is-still-not-happy-and-is-pulling-its-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Billboard just made ‘free’ streams worth more on its US charts. YouTube is still not happy \u2013 and is pulling its data."},"content":{"rendered":"

YouTube says it<\/strong> will soon stop providing data to Billboard<\/em> for inclusion in the US charts, ending a partnership that has lasted more than a decade.<\/p>\n

The decision, announced today (December 17) by Lyor Cohen<\/strong>, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, comes just one day after Billboard revealed changes to its chart methodology that will actually narrow<\/em> the weighting gap<\/a> between paid and ad-supported streams.<\/p>\n

Under Billboard’s current formula for the Billboard 200<\/strong>, one album ‘unit’ equals 1,250<\/strong> paid\/subscription streams or 3,750<\/strong> ad-supported streams \u2014 a 1:3 ratio.<\/p>\n

Billboard’s new methodology, announced yesterday (December 16), tightens that ratio to 1:2.5<\/strong>, with one album unit now equalling 1,000 paid streams<\/strong> or 2,500 ad-supported streams<\/strong>. (The same ratio change is being applied to the Hot 100<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

In other words: paid streams<\/strong> will still be weighted more favorably than ad-supported plays, but by a smaller margin<\/strong> than before.<\/p>\n

Yet in a statement today, Lyor Cohen<\/strong> said the changes do not go far enough.\u00a0YouTube<\/strong> wants all streams to be counted equally on Billboard’s charts \u2013 regardless of whether they come from paid subscriptions or ad-supported services.<\/p>\n

“Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported,” Cohen<\/strong> said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription.”<\/p>\n

Cohen<\/strong> added: “We believe every fan matters and every play should count equally, therefore after January 16, YouTube data will no longer be delivered or factored into the US Billboard charts.”<\/p>\n

That January 16 date is deliberate: the new Billboard<\/em> streaming methodology takes effect with charts dated January 17, 2026 (covering data from January 2-8).<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div> <\/div> <\/p>\n

Added Cohen<\/strong>: “Streaming is the primary way people experience music, making up 84% of US recorded music revenue.<\/p>\n

“We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported\u2014because every fan matters and every play should count.”<\/p>\n

YouTube was first included in the Billboard Hot 100<\/a> in February 2013, and was later added to the Billboard 200 album chart in January 2020.<\/p>\n

“After a decade-long partnership and extensive discussions, [Billboard] are unwilling to make meaningful changes,” Cohen<\/strong> said. “We are committed to achieving equitable representation across the charts and hopefully can work with Billboard to return to theirs.”<\/p>\n

<\/div> <\/div> <\/p>\n
2018: Billboard tips the scales toward paid<\/h6>\n

The question of how to weight different types of streams has been contested since Billboard<\/em> first introduced tiered streaming values<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n

Prior to that change, all streams \u2014 whether from paid services like Apple Music<\/strong> or ad-supported platforms like YouTube<\/strong> \u2014 were counted equally.<\/p>\n

In a 2017 interview with MBW<\/em>, Apple’s Jimmy Iovine argued<\/a> that having YouTube<\/strong> streams count equally alongside paid-for music on Billboard’s Hot 100 disadvantaged artists.<\/p>\n

Iovine<\/strong> was unequivocal about his view that paid streams should carry more weight on industry charts. “I’ll put it this way: people who pay for subscriptions should be advantaged,” he said. “The labels owe it to their customers.”<\/p>\n

He added: “The most important thing for labels is to make the paid services compelling and entertaining. And don’t make free services as good as the paid services. Is that not obvious?!<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

When the 2018 changes were implemented, paid subscription streams were weighted more heavily than ad-supported streams on both charts.<\/p>\n

On the Hot 100, paid streams were given full point value, ad-supported streams two-thirds, and programmed streams half. On the Billboard 200, it took three times as many ad-supported streams (3,750) as paid streams (1,250) to equal one album unit.<\/p>\n

<\/div> <\/div> <\/p>\n

Recent data<\/a> shows that the US recorded music industry’s overall streaming revenue performance<\/strong> in 2024 was dragged down by payouts from on-demand, ad-supported music services, including YouTube and Spotify’s ‘freemium’ tier.<\/p>\n

Combined, these platforms saw their revenue contribution to the recorded music industry decline in the US last year, down 1.8% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to $1.83 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on-demand paid subscription platforms contributed $11.685 billion<\/strong> to recorded music rightsholders, up 4.6% YoY<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The disparity in revenue per stream between paid and free tiers is at the heart of the debate.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>\n\n
\n

As Iovine<\/strong> put it in 2017: “The fact is that ‘free’ in music streaming is so technically good and ubiquitous that it’s stunting the growth of paid streaming. Two things have to happen: free has to become more difficult or restricted, and the paid services have to get better.”<\/p>\n

Cohen’s<\/strong> announcement represents a reversal from 2019, when he welcomed YouTube’s inclusion<\/a> in the Billboard 200, calling it a “very important moment in making the chart a more accurate representation of what people are listening to.”<\/p>\n

At that time, Cohen<\/strong> said: “Genres like Latin, hip-hop and electronic, which consistently dominate the YouTube charts, will now be properly recognized for their popularity. This is another great step in bringing YouTube and the industry together.”<\/p>\n

YouTube reported in October<\/a> that it paid more than $8 billion to the music industry during the 12 months from July 2024 to June 2025, covering revenue from both advertising and subscriptions on the Google-owned platform.<\/p>\n

In his statement today (December 17), Cohen<\/strong> directed fans to YouTube’s own charts as an alternative to Billboard’s lists.<\/p>\n

“If you’re curious about what music is making waves on YouTube, you can visit our charts,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paid streams will still be weighted more favorably than ad-supported plays on Billboard’s chartd, but by a smaller margin than before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":33954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247584,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247582\/revisions\/247584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}