Nielsen Entertainment and Billboard are happy to announce that the new Billboard 200 will be going live at the end of November. Rankings will be based on a formula blending pure album sales, track equivalent sales (TEA) and streaming equivalent plays (SEA).
The current ratios for Album equivalents will be:
10 tracks = 1 album sale
1,500 streams= 1 album sale
These will be reviewed and discussed as needed based on changes in the industry or changes in the panel of providers.
Only those albums which have historically been eligible for the Billboard 200 (including catalog titles) will be included, with track sales and streaming sums for songs appearing on those albums now part of the calculation.
As this new chart methodology will rely upon Albums and Songs being properly linked together, it is critical that your registration files accurately reflect the links between albums and songs. Nielsen will be working with your Data teams to ensure that the proper methodology has been communicated.
Please contact Nielsen’s Database team at to confirm linking or if you have any questions.
Some things to note regarding the methodology of this chart:
· Only albums or EPs (minimum four songs) are eligible to appear on this chart.
· Current Billboard 200 eligibility rules apply, including the inclusion of catalog titles.
· Minimum pricing rules will be adjusted upon chart launch to include EPs of any length as well, which must now retail for at least $3.49 during first four weeks of availability. Normal per track pricing minimums for EPs ($0.39) go into effect thereafter.
· For charting purposes, songs that appear on multiple albums by the same artist will be assigned to the highest ranking album on which the song appears.
o Songs that appear on multi-artist soundtracks or various artist compilations will only be assigned to those albums if the songs do not appear on an artist specific album.
o A multi-artist track which appears on more than one artist’s album will be assigned to both of those artist’s albums.
· Streaming data includes on-demand and tethered audio streams. The initial launch of the chart will not include Video streams or Programmed streams.
· Streaming data and Song Sales data will follow a Monday – Sunday reporting period. In cases where streaming data is unavailable for the complete period, the most recent seven days of streaming will be used for any provider that is incomplete for the week.
· All tracks/ISRCs are rolled up on a song level as currently presented on SoundScan and on Billboard Digital Songs charts. Songs eligible to be merged based on existing Billboard policy will have all sales and streams of various versions added together. (See merge policy below).
o Labels have the option of not merging track versions if they request to assign certain ISRCs to specific albums, but the song will then chart separately on all of SoundScan and Billboard’s sales, airplay, streaming and hybrid charts.
· The new album consumption chart will be known as the Billboard 200, with album rank history dating back to 1956.
o A pure sales album chart will continue to exist (Top Album Sales), with history dating back to the first album chart on May 25, 1991.
BB 200 Streaming Services
Vid/Aud Data Type
Amazon Prime Audio On-Demand
Beats Music Audio On-Demand
Google Play Audio On-Demand
Medianet Audio On-Demand
Medianet Audio Tethered
Rdio Audio On-Demand Plays (including non-DMCA radio)
Rdio Audio Tethered Plays
Rhapsody Audio On-Demand Plays
Rhapsody Audio Tethered Plays
Slacker Audio On-Demand Plays
Spotify Audio On-Demand Plays (including non-DMCA radio)
Xbox Music Audio On-Demand Plays (including non-DMCA radio)
Xbox Music Audio Tethered Plays
BILLBOARD/SOUNDSCAN/BDS TRACK MERGE POLICY
Live/Re-Recorded Versions — A live or re-recorded version will be treated as a new song if the original version has passed its time as a potential singles chart item. That is, the original has been released as a single and has reached recurrent status; or the original was an album track that has not been, nor is going to be, released as a single. In these cases, detections and sales from the original song will not be combined with the new version. The new live release will be listed as such (i.e. "Title (Live)").
A live or re-recorded version will be combined with an existing song's pattern if the original song has is still building on a chart or has potential future life as a single. If the live version is released by a label that differs from the label of the old version, both labels must give their approval before the title is merged. This agreement between labels also applies to re-mixed versions. Billboard will deal with non-released live versions on a case-by-case basis.
Remixes — Billboard will treat re-recorded songs that bear little resemblance to the original recording as a separate and distinctive song for the purposes of chart tracking. The guidelines are lyric and melody: If neither element is similar to the original recording, the two versions will not be merged. A newly recorded mix must be an extension of the original recording, whether musically or lyrically. It is not necessary for the new version to match the original note for note or word for word, but at the very least the musical hook or the lyrics should be similar. If elements of a song (either music or lyrics) are included in a new version which contains vocals by an artist who was not a part of the original recording, or was solely listed as a featured artist, the two versions will not be merged if the lead artist from the original recording has been relegated to featured status or otherwise has minimal presence in the new version. If not merged, the two versions will be listed on the chart with differentiating features either in the title and/or artist field.
For multi-artist versions of charity, holiday or other themed songs, tracks will only be merged if a majority of the artists appear on each of the tracks. If not, the tracks will be listed separately.
If we become aware of such disparate versions of a song after its release, and it has already been merged by BDS, the title may be subjected to being split while it is climbing the chart.
BILLBOARD HOT 100
Download Sales and any available physical sales (divide by 10)
**no change**
Airplay (divide HOH BDS format audience impressions by 10,000) OR divide number found in Encore by 100 since that number is already divided by 100
**was previously 750 or 75 **
On-Demand Streaming (divide by 750)
**was previously divided by 500**
Radio Streaming (divide by 1,500)
**was previously divided by 1,000**
With this formula,
1 Download = 1,000 Audience impressions = 75 on-demand streams = 150 radio streams
**Please note, this is not a commentary on what we feel a download equals in the music landscape or meant to match the equivalencies announced for the Billboard 200. These numbers are arrived at based on the desired formula and target ratio of the Hot 100.
Hot 100 Streaming
Vid/Aud Data Type
Amazon Prime Audio Radio Streaming
Amazon Prime Audio On-Demand*
AOL Radio (powered by Slacker) Audio Radio Streaming
Beats Music Audio On-Demand*
Google Play Audio On-Demand*
Medianet Audio On-Demand*
Medianet Audio Tethered
Milk (part of Slacker) Audio Radio Streaming
Rdio Audio On-Demand Plays*
Rdio Audio Tethered Plays*
Rhapsody Audio On-Demand Plays*
Rhapsody Audio Tethered Plays*
Rhapsody Audio Radio Streaming
Slacker Audio On-Demand Plays*
Slacker Audio Radio Streaming
Spotify Audio On-Demand Plays*
Vevo on YouTube Video On-Demand Plays
YouTube Video On-Demand Plays
VidZone Video On-Demand Plays
VidZone Video Video Streaming (non-demand)
Xbox Music Audio On-Demand Plays*
Xbox Music Audio Tethered Plays*
On-Demand and Tethered Plays are weighted to count twice as much as Radio Streaming.
*Notes data also contributed to On-Demand Songs chart.