YouTube streaming data returns to Billboard charts, ending major disagreement

YouTube will resume supplying streaming data to Billboard in 2027, resolving a dispute that had kept the platform’s plays out of the charts. The return follows changes to Billboard’s chart formula that give greater weight to free, ad-supported streams. The standoff had left Billboard rankings without data from the world’s largest video platform, raising questions about how fully the charts reflected popular listening. The new methodology is meant to better capture the growing role of ad-funded streaming in music consumption. Watch how the revised formula affects chart positions once YouTube’s data is incorporated and whether other platforms seek similar adjustments.