Billboard to include streams and digital track sales in album charts

The Billboard 200 chart has traditionally been ranked based on album sales, but that’s about to change. Starting at the end of the month, the list will expand its criteria to include the sales of a record’s individual tracks, as well as streaming plays. Selling ten tracks or having 1,500 plays on services such as Spotify or Rdio will have the same weight as selling one album.

“We were always limited to the initial impulse, when somebody purchased an album,” said Silvio Pietroluongo, vice president of charts and data development at Billboard, as quoted by The New York Times. “Now we have the ability to look at that engagement and gauge the popularity of an album over time.”

“Adding streaming information makes the chart a better representation of music consumption activity,” continued Pietroluongo, as quoted by Pitchfork. “While an extremely valuable measurement, album sales would mostly capture the initial impulse only, without indicating the depth of consumption thereafter. Someone could listen to the album just once, or listen to one track or a number of tracks 100 times. We are now able to incorporate those plays as part of an album consumption ranking throughout one’s possession of an album, extending beyond the initial purchase or listen.”

“With current On-Demand audio play counts exceeding 100 billion so far this year, this method of consumption has redefined the way success is measured in the music industry,” says David Bakula, senior vice president of industry insights at Nielsen, as quoted by Billboard. “Nielsen’s recent Music 360 report reveals that streaming has seen substantial gains in popularity with consumers, with nearly 80 percent of music fans reporting that they have streamed music in the last six months.”