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Songs streamed on YouTube will no longer count towards the Billboard<\/em> charts, the platform announced in a blog<\/a> yesterday (December 17). The change will take effect on January 16, 2026, according to Lyor Cohen, YouTube\u2019s global head of music. Cohen blamed a long-running dispute over Billboard<\/em>\u2019s decision to weight subscriber streams more favorably than ad-supported streams in its chart tallies.<\/p>\n YouTube is threatening to pull its data despite a recent rule change that suggests a compromise on the issue: This week, Billboard<\/em> announced<\/a> it would more generously weight ad-supported, on-demand streams in comparison to their subscriber counterparts. That shift equates a stream by a YouTube or Spotify subscriber to two and a half streams by a non-subscriber. Before that, the ratio was 3:1, meaning a free stream was worth even less. But Cohen maintains this an \u201coutdated formula\u201d that \u201cignores the massive engagement from fans who don\u2019t have a subscription.\u201d He notes that streaming makes up<\/a> 84 percent of U.S. recorded music revenue and suggests that YouTube was pursuing a 1:1 ratio in streaming counts.<\/p>\n Why YouTube is so determined to bump up free streams is not entirely clear. Cohen argues that artists\u2019 work on fan-engagement on the platform is \u201cbeing undervalued\u201d by Billboard<\/em>, hinting he believes a more generous chart contribution would drive activity on the platform. Also unclear is whether the disagreement pertains only to the ratio of subscriber to non-subscriber streams, or whether YouTube also disputes what Billboard<\/em> counts as an on-demand stream. On YouTube, as on Spotify, some autoplays that follow an active song selection may be excluded from chart tallies. Pitchfork has emailed representatives for YouTube for further comment.<\/p>\n