YouTube will resume sending its streaming data to Billboard’s U.S. charts in 2027, after Billboard agreed to narrow the gap between how it weights ad-supported and paid subscription streams.

Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, announced the return in a two-line update to the platform’s December 2025 blog post announcing its exit from the charts. “We are returning to the Billboard charts starting in 2027,” Cohen wrote. “Billboard’s new methodology better reflects how fans engage with music today across both subscription and ad-supported services.”

The update followed Billboard’s announcement that it will change the ratio between paid subscription streams and ad-supported streams to 1:1.5, from 1:2.5. Under the new methodology, each album consumption unit on the Billboard 200 will equal 1,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The existing formula requires 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid subscription streams per unit. 

Billboard said the change takes effect Jan. 16 next year, reflecting data from Jan. 1 through 7. One album consumption unit also equals one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album.

The Weighting Dispute

YouTube stopped delivering data to Billboard after Jan. 16, 2026, and its streams were absent from the charts starting with those dated Jan. 31. The withdrawal came in response to Billboard’s 1:2.5 weighting. At the time, the exit covered consumption from YouTube Music, the main YouTube platform, and YouTube Shorts. It removed YouTube data from the Hot 100, the Billboard 200, and Billboard’s genre rankings.

In December 2025, Cohen said, “Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported.” He argued that the formula ignored engagement from fans without subscriptions and noted that streaming makes up 84% of U.S. recorded music revenue. “We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported – because every fan matters and every play should count,” he wrote.

Billboard was the first to include YouTube streaming data in its charts. It added the data to its song charts, including the Hot 100, in 2013, and to the Billboard 200 in 2020. In 2018, Billboard began weighting paid subscription streams above ad-supported streams. International organizations including the IFPI also adopted weighted systems. Billboard said at the time, “It is Billboard’s belief that assigning values to the levels of consumer engagement and access – along with the compensation derived from those options – better reflects the varied user activity occurring on these services.”

YouTube has put its music payouts at the center of its case to the industry. In a March letter to music partners, Cohen said YouTube had paid more than $8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months ending June 2025.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Check Out Our Podcast