Paid views will no longer count towards YouTube Music Charts

YouTube has made a major change in the way that its music charts are calculated, removing paid advertising views from the algorithm.

The announcement was made on YouTube’s official blog, with a view to maintaining the credibility and consistency of the charts.

YouTube insists that “there is simply no better current measure of the world’s music listening than YouTube”.

As a result only “organic” views will count towards the YouTube Music Charts, “in an effort to provide more transparency to the industry and align with the policies of official charting companies such as Billboard and Nielsen“.

In addition, the methodology by which videos are eligible for 24-hour record debuts has changed – with the criteria now made official as “highest views from organic sources within the first 24 hours of the video’s public release”.

Views from direct links, search results, external sites with video embeds, Youtube’s homepage, Watch Next, and Trending pages will continue to be included.

Video advertising is undoubtedly an effective way to reach specific audiences with a song debut, but paid advertising views on YouTube will no longer be considered when looking at a 24-hour record debut.

YouTube also made a point to mention that YouTube’s existing 24-hour record debut holders won’t be affected.

BTS current holds the record with ‘Boy With Luv’ which gained 74.6 million views in 24-hours.

As Rolling Stone points out, buying views has existed as a legitimate way of boosting a video for some time.

So while this move ensures the charts aren’t affected by buying views, it doesn’t stop advertising money being used to increase views on each video’s public view-counter.

Artists can still spend money to have their view run as a short advertisement in front of other views, and if uses click the ad or allow it to run, a view is added to the video’s official view count.

The latest YouTube Music Charts can be viewed at charts.youtube.com