Billboard Charts to Add More Weight to On-Demand Streaming in 2026

Starting in January, the Billboard charts will add more weight to on-demand streaming to better reflect an increase in streaming revenue and changing consumer behaviors.

As part of the change, paid/subscription on-demand streams will continue to be weighted more favorably compared to ad-supported on-demand streams, with the ratio between the two tiers narrowing from 1:3 to 1:2.5 based on analysis of streaming revenue.

Currently, each album consumption unit equals one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Effective for the Billboard 200 and corresponding genre album consumption charts dated Jan. 17 (encompassing data from Jan. 2-8), each album consumption unit will now equal 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album (sales and download metrics will remain the same).

The change means that it will take 33.3% fewer ad-supported on-demand streams of songs from an album, and 20% fewer paid/subscription on-demand streams of songs from an album, to equal an album unit.

The ratio between paid/subscription and ad-supported on-demand streaming tiers will additionally be adjusted to 1:2.5 for the Billboard Hot 100, along with corresponding streaming and song consumption charts.