Billboard just gave Spotify and Apple Music an advantage in chart counts

Billboard just announced that it will change the way it counts streams on its charts beginning in 2018. Next year, streams from paid subscription services like Apple Music and “hybrid paid/ad-supported platforms” like Spotify will be given more weight on the charts than streams from purely ad-based platforms like YouTube. Currently, Billboard weighs all of these streams equally, under the umbrella of “on-demand” streams.The Billboard Hot 100, which charts singles, will co