How Billboard’s New You Tube Rules Will Completely Change the Pop Charts Forever

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1. It Balances Out The Corporate Influence On Radio

Up until recently, the charts were fairly predictable and stagnant, with only artists with the greatest amount of money and promotional muscle behind them rising to the top. Radio airplay, a chief component of Billboard‘s formula, is very difficult to crack without a huge amount of promo money, and even if you gain some leverage there, songs can get sunk based on the findings of radio research firms who help stations develop strategies to keep listeners from turning the dial. Billboard has been steadily adjusting their charts over the past two years to reflect major shifts in music consumption – digital sales, on-demand play from services like Spotify – and the result has destabilized chart data in both obvious and subtle ways, with left field artists like Gotye and Macklemore hitting No. 1 and album tracks by Mumford & Sons and Kendrick Lamar crowding out the Hot 100 and genre charts.

2. It Introduces An Element Of Chaos

Bringing YouTube into the equation makes the chart far more chaotic. An artist doesn’t need to be signed to a label or officially release music to be eligible for the chart, though it will be hard to get to the upper reaches without sales, on-demand play, or airplay adding to the overall tally. Artists don’t even need to try for a hit – Baauer and Psy’s songs broke through to the mainstream entirely on the enthusiasm of fans and would not have been pushed to pop radio under normal circumstances. If “Gangnam Style” didn’t break through as a meme, there’s a very good chance that Psy would have never been marketed in the U.S. at all. Both artists essentially won some kind of cosmic pop lottery, and the culture is now primed for this to happen on a regular basis. The Hot 100 can now more accurately reflect this change in culture.

3. Independent Labels Have A Fighting Chance

The two most recent No. 1 singles on the Hot 100, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” and Baauer’s “Harlem Shake,” are the first songs released by independent labels to hit the top of the chart in two decades. “Thrift Shop” made it to No. 1 without the new rules taking effect, but probably would have hit the top much sooner if they were already in place, since it’s a been a major viral hit on YouTube for months. These are extreme examples, but plenty of indie acts with strong followings and popular videos now have a solid chance at cracking the Hot 100. It’s not a level playing field now, but artists now have the opportunity to break big without having to work with a major label. Think of it as the pop chart equivalent of asymmetrical warfare.

4. Established Stars Get A Boost Too

Though the new rules open the door for total randos to score huge hits with viral videos, they also serve to enhance the chart placement of established artists with large major label budgets. Artists like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and One Direction do big business on YouTube, and Drake’s new single “Started at the Bottom” leaped from 63 to 10 on the Hot 100 after the new rules went into effect this week. This rule is nothing but a boon to pop stars who prioritize videos.

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