Billboard Updates Hot 100 Formula To Reflect Digital Streams

Via Breitbart: *Billboard, the world’s most comprehensive source of music, digital data and events, today announced an expansion of its Hot 100 formula to include weekly streamed and on-demand music data to the chart’s traditional mix of sales and radio airplay. Keeping pace with the growth of digital delivery, Billboard’s franchise chart will be supplemented by weekly data from AOL & Yahoo! Music.

The retooled chart will add weekly online music data provided by AOL and Yahoo!, ensuring that the chart represents emerging trends in music consumption. Like digital sales, the on-demand data represents a more active voice for the consumer. Billboard is eager to incorporate streaming data from other online sources, and is working with Nielsen for such expansion. Billboard associate director of charts S. Pietroluongo, who manages the Hot 100, orchestrated the chart’s new formula.

“With the addition of AOL Music and Yahoo! Music, Billboard continues to keep stride with today’s digital trends while maintaining the chart’s traditional balance.” In the new Billboard Hot 100 formula, radio audience will average about 55% of the chart’s total points. Digital sales will account for about 40%, and streaming media will determine 5%. Physical singles—in line with the music industry’s retreat from that product over the past decade—will account for less than 1% of the chart’s new formula. As part of the chart’s revision, Billboard’s Hot 100 chart’s radio panel will expand to include all current-based commercial U.S. stations that Nielsen monitors, regardless of whether those stations qualify for a Billboard or R&R format panel. For example, stations removed from Hot Country Songs’ consideration when that chart’s criteria was revised last fall will now have a voice on the Hot 100. This increases the Hot 100’s station count by nearly 250 stations.*

Read more about the process over at Billboard.

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