Billboard genre album charts will now include streaming numbers

Billboard is converting its genre album charts to a consumption methodology that accounts for listening on streaming music services. The company first transitioned its Billboard 200 chart to this new accounting system in 2014. The first genre charts with the new methodology will be published on January 31.

The Billboard equivalency treats 10 digital track sales from an album as one album sale, while 1,500 on-demand song streams also count as one album sale. The rankings will include on-demand streams from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, Slacker, Napster, Google Play, Groove Music, and Medianet.

“We’ve been thrilled with the reception to the Billboard 200 album consumption methodology and how it reflects album popularity in today’s world, where music is accessible on so many platforms,” said Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard’s VP of charts and data development. “The conversion of genre album charts to consumption reinforces how this approach has become the accepted measure of album success.”