Billboard now factors in YouTube plays when compiling its Hot 100 list

And because of this, "Harlem Shake" is currently in the number one position. A Flat "What" doesn't even sum this up succinctly enough.

But anyway, I want to hear your take on this. What do you think of this change (aside from LOLBILLBOARDDON'TMATTER—it really does to some degree, even if it doesn't affect you personally)? Does this change in the way the charts are structured make sense to you? How do you think the charts will be affected by this?

This sounds... I dunno... sell-out-ish?

Since they intend to show how popular songs are, I find it only sensible to include Youtube plays. By now, that's probably as good an indication as airplay.

Over in England, Harlem Shake is number 3 anyway, and the number one is a One Direction murdering of Teenage Kicks and that other song, so it's probably for the best that Youtube is factored in.

And anyway, Youtube is a great way to show popularity. After all, teenagers nowadays are more likely to find a song on Youtube and decide whether or not they like before going to buy it.

This is a major change.

It means the playing field have been changed.

Maybe this change was made because of Gangnam Style?

I may like Harlem Shake (the song, not the videos), but it doesn't deserve any place on the Billboards. At all.

I'm more concerned about the blatant bloc-voting that is now possible. It's like asking for the Top 100 to be griefed.

And what if an absolutely scrotum-mangling song gets nearly a billion views?

Does this thing now count any videos that contain the song in some way? I mena, aren't the memes just really short clips, with only a small portion of the song? It shouldn't "count" as much as somebody actually listening to the song or watching the music video

edited 24th Feb '13 10:11:21 AM by SimplyWhatever

They'll probably only count the official artist account's video. But wouldn't this mean that songs would be on the charts longer? I mean there are barely-remembered one hit wonders from the 80s that have millions of hits, so how do you count those?

That does confuse me, exactly HOW they're counting them. From what I can gather, I think it's any video with the song in it, otherwise I'm not sure "Harlem Shake"'s official upload would've propelled it into the charts. But, then, there's tons of other videos and songs that have twice that many views/plays, across tons of other videos, so I don't know what they do with that.

Honestly, I really do hope that someone games the system with something using this. Could make the charts very interesting...

Headdesk

A long time coming, maybe. I know here that Ofcom (Office for Communications, our media regulator) counts online views as part of television ratings.

I do, however, would love (as a statistics freak) to see their methodology.

If youtube plays now factor into Billboard charts, then Gangnam Style should be number one until the end of recorded history.

Over a billion and a quarter plays, y'all.

Prior to inclusion of digital stream plays, "Bad Romance" stalled at #2, even though that was a monster of a song it was locked out by Britney Spears' "3" and Jay Sean's "Down", both of which never approached the popularity of that song.

After they included digital streaming because of that, the charts were weighted correctly for a while until Youtube eventually overtook radio airplay in how most people listen to music. However, before they corrected that, "Gangnam Style" was stalled at #2 because Maroon 5's song "One More Night", which didn't receive as many digital views or plays as "Gangnam Style" by a long shot, received more radio airplay even though Gangnam Style racked up both a billion and a half views and sold more singles.

That's why digital streaming is now weighted heavier in comparison to airplay. It make sense, really. Everyone knows what Baauer's song sounds like, and "Harlem Shake" is (or was earlier this week) #1 on the iTunes sales chart.

I don't know how they're counting it, but the digital sales have propelled it up there a great deal, too. But the meme videos shouldn't really be included.

I really need to renew my subscription.

EDIT: Ahk! After Bad Romance they included the addition of digital streaming, not Youtube.

tl;dr: Adding Youtube is necessary for their statistics to be accurate. Adding meme videos isn't correct, but they probably believe that since it contains more than thirty seconds of the song each, and that it's not a cover, that it should count towards the charting. And because those meme videos are giving Baauer ad revenue.

EDIT 2: This means they're counting music videos now (imagine if they counted MTV plays back in the 80s. I don't know if it would have increased or decreased the accuracy of the charts during that era) and that songs not released to radio or as official singles can now chart.

EDIT 3: Okay, I renewed my subscription and now I have access to what counts as a listen/view on Youtube:

"Billboard is now incorporating all official videos on You Tube captured by Nielsen’s streaming measurement, including Vevo on You Tube, and user-generated clips that utilize authorized audio into the Hot 100 and the Hot 100 formula-based genre charts — Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B Songs, Rap Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Dance/Electronic Songs — to further reflect the divergent platforms for music consumption in today’s world."

The audio has to be authorized. This means no lyric videos.

Also:

"Even without the You Tube data, “Harlem Shake” would have charted in the Top 15 this week, Mr. Werde said.)"

I think it's a step in the right direction for Billboard to have more accurate charts.

Music + Statistics = MYUNDYINGLOVE

edited 26th Feb '13 8:51:17 PM by Completion

I think "authorized audio" just means "audio that won't get your video muted/taken down", or all the audio that has been approved for You Tube use. So, basically, lyric videos would count. As long as it's the actual song, can be identified by You Tube's Content ID system, and not a cover, it'd be counted.