YouTube is making a major return to the Billboard charts after a dispute over how music streams are counted led the video platform to withdraw its data earlier this year.
On Monday, Nov. 9, YouTube announced that its streaming data will once again be included in Billboard’s U.S. music charts beginning in 2027, following a significant change to the chart methodology that determines how paid and ad-supported streams contribute to an artist’s chart performance.
The announcement marks a reversal from December 2025, when YouTube revealed it would stop providing streaming data to Billboard because it believed the chart system undervalued music consumed by fans who don’t pay for subscriptions.
“We are returning to the Billboard charts starting in 2027,” Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, wrote in an update to the company’s original announcement. “Billboard’s new methodology better reflects how fans engage with music today across both subscription and ad-supported services.”
The decision follows Billboard’s announcement that it will change how it weighs streams from paid subscription services compared with streams from free, advertising-supported platforms.
Under the current system, 1,000 paid-subscription streams count as the equivalent of one album sale on the Billboard 200, while it takes 2,500 ad-supported streams to reach the same total. Beginning with the chart dated Jan. 16, 2027, reflecting streaming activity from Jan. 1 through Jan. 7, that gap will narrow considerably.
Under the new rules, 1,000 paid-subscription streams will still equal one album consumption unit, but only 1,500 ad-supported streams will be required to achieve the same result. The change means that music consumed through free, advertising-supported services will carry substantially more weight than it previously did, although paid streams will continue to count more heavily.
For artists whose audiences primarily watch music videos or listen through free streaming services, the revised formula could make a meaningful difference in their chart performance.
YouTube’s dispute with Billboard became public in December 2025, when Cohen announced that the company would stop sharing its streaming data after more than a decade of working with the music publication.
The withdrawal took effect with Billboard’s charts dated Jan. 31, 2026.
In his original announcement, Cohen argued that Billboard’s methodology failed to adequately recognize the millions of fans who engage with music through advertising-supported services rather than paid subscriptions.
“Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported,” Cohen wrote at the time. “This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription.”
He also pointed to streaming’s dominance in the music industry, noting that it accounted for 84 percent 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,” Cohen continued.
Although YouTube initially called for equal treatment of all streams, the revised Billboard methodology does not go that far. Instead, it reduces the difference between the two categories, a compromise YouTube now considers sufficient to resume its participation.
YouTube first became part of Billboard’s chart calculations in 2013, when its streaming data was incorporated into the publication’s song rankings, including the Billboard Hot 100. At the time, Billboard became the first major music chart organization to include YouTube streaming activity in its rankings.
In 2019, YouTube streaming data was also added to the Billboard 200 albums chart, expanding the platform’s influence on how music success was measured.
That same year, Billboard began assigning greater weight to paid-subscription streams than to ad-supported streams, arguing that the distinction better reflected different levels of consumer engagement and the revenue generated by each type of service.
The new methodology represents a shift toward giving free streaming a larger role in determining chart positions, even as subscription listening retains an advantage.
With YouTube’s return in 2027, music video views and other eligible streams on the platform will once again help determine which songs and albums rise to the top of Billboard’s charts.
Related: 1981 Hit That Spent 9 Weeks at No. 1 Is Suddenly Back on the Billboard Charts 45 Years Later Thanks to ‘The Shards’
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