The future is here, and it is changing what we consider a best-selling album.
Years after updating the Billboard 200 chart to reflect both streaming and track sales, Billboard has announced it will now do the same for most of it’s other genre-based album charts as well. The following charts now reflect the new measurement methodology starting this week:
Top Country Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, plus:
-R&B Albums
-Rap Albums
Top Rock Albums, plus:
-Alternative Albums
-Hard Rock Albums
-Americana/Folk Albums
Top Latin Albums, plus:
-Latin Pop Albums
-Regional Mexican Albums
-Tropical Albums
-Latin Rhythm Albums
Top Dance/Electronic Albums
Top Gospel Albums
Top Christian Albums, plus:
-Christian/Gospel Albums
Soundtracks
Top Catalog Albums
Holiday Albums
The charts are still essentially based on sales, but 10 digital track sales from an album will equate to one equivalent album sale (TEA), and 1,500 on-demand song streams from an album will be equivalent to one album sale (SEA). Sales and streaming data is compiled by Nielsen Music.
Billboard will also continue to publish pure album sales charts for the above genres using Nielsen’s sales data exclusively.
Several on-demand subscription streaming services provide data for the charts, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, Slacker, Napster, Google Play, Groove Music and Medianet.
How this change will impact who ranks where remains to be seen, but it stands to reason that artists with viral hits – such as Migos’ with their hit “Bad and Boujee” – could see big first week numbers once streams for their singles are factored into the equation.
