From FYI Music News:
Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan will start adding streams and track downloads to the formula behind the Billboard 200, starting 11/30. A new chart incorporating sales and listening data will be published on Billboard’s website on 12/04 and in the print edition available on 12/13.
The so-called consumption chart will count 1.5K song streams from services such as Spotify as an album sale equivalent and “track equivalent albums” — the industry yardstick of 10 downloads of individual tracks — as part of the formula for album rankings on the Billboard 200.
The addition of streams and track equivalent albums is intended to stabilize new chart entries as first week sales taper off and online listening increases.
The new chart is restricted to the US for now, says Paul Tuch, Nielsen Ent.’s Director of Canadian Operations. He doesn’t count out a similar methodoly coming to Canada sometime in the future.
In September, Nielsen Canada added streaming data from YouTube, Slacker and five other firms in with digital track sales and BDS airplay data in its formulations used to rank the Canadian Hot 100 and Emerging Artist charts.
