Beginning with the chart revealed on Wednesday, Dec. 3, on Billboard.com (and in the Billboard issue dated Dec. 13), the chart, which currently tracks the top 200 albums of the week by sales alone, will be the first to include on-demand streaming and digital track sales (as measured by Nielsen Entertainment) by way of a new algorithm. It is the most substantial methodology update since May 1991, when Billboard first used Nielsen's point-of-sale data — SoundScan — to measure album sales.
The revamped chart will premiere with data from Thanksgiving week (ending Nov. 30), one of the most active music release periods of the year. The new methodology aims to provide a better sense of an album's popularity by reflecting not just sales, but consumption activity.
The updated Billboard 200 will utilize accepted industry benchmarks for digital and streaming data, equating 10 digital track sales from an album to one equivalent album sale, and 1,500 song streams from an album to one equivalent album sale. All of the major on-demand audio subscription services are considered, including Spotify, Beats Music, Google Play and Xbox Music. Current artists likely to benefit from this change in methodology include Ariana Grande, Hozier and Maroon 5, among others, as their streaming and digital song sales have been outperforming their album sales in recent weeks.
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