YouTube views now included in Billboard & Nielsen music charts, pushes ‘Harlem Shake’ to No. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJoKuTlvuM

Why is the YouTube craze “Harlem Shake” debuting at No. 1 on Billboard this week? YouTube announced today that it is partnering with Billboard and Nielsen to include its U.S. data on YouTube views for a number of music charts including the Hot 100 List. Billboard’s Hot 100, for example, traditionally utilized sales and airplay data, but more recently moved to include data from streaming services such as Spotify and now YouTube. YouTube noted in a post on the Official YouTube blog that the data would also include views from user-generated videos that have authorized audio.

This announcement marks a big step in accurately reflecting how music lovers are finding their new favorite songs. And it builds upon our efforts to share this kind of data with key industry analytical tools like Next Big Sound and BigChampagne, which also help artists succeed both on and offline. Most importantly, we hope this news will excite our users, who have helped us discover some of the biggest stars and songs of the past seven years.

The data will initially be used to influence the U.S. “Hot” charts, including: the Hot 100 List, Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B Songs, Rap Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot Rock Songs, and Dance/Electronic Songs.