‘Billboard’ Adds Pandora Streaming To Its Charts

Billboard and Pandora have announced that data from streaming service Pandora has been incorporated into data currently used to determine chart positions for songs on Billboard‘s Hot 100. The Hot 100 ranks the week’s most popular songs across all genres, determined by a formula blending track sales, radio airplay, and streaming, measured by Nielsen Music.

In addition, Pandora will also impact various streaming-based charts, and Hot 100 formula-based genre rankings such as Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, among others.

Pandora data will be incorporated into the Billboard charts and revealed on Billboard.com on Tuesday, January 31 (for charts dated February 11).

The Billboard charts already reflect data from on-demand streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon and SoundCloud, as well as video on-demand platforms such as YouTube (including Vevo on YouTube), and streamed programming including Slacker, Google Radio, Napster and AOL Radio.

“Billboard’s unrivaled charts are the definitive source for ranking music popularity. For decades, the charts have acted as a place where both artists measure success and fans discover music,” says John Amato, co-president of The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group. “Close to 80 million music lovers listen to Pandora every month and we look forward to bringing our brands together to incorporate Pandora’s data into our charts.”

Pandora Founder and CEO Tim Westergren, said, “Over the last few years, Pandora has shared more and more data with the music industry. We started with artists and managers, then direct deal label partners, and now Billboard for inclusion in the iconic Hot 100 chart. With each step along the way our partners have been shocked by the sheer size of Pandora’s audience. Pandora is now the #1 radio station in 87 U.S. markets and represents roughly 10 percent of all radio listening. With the inclusion of Pandora data, the Billboard charts that have guided listeners and been so central to the music industry for decades now reflect a truer measure of a song’s popularity today. I’m thrilled that the ‘Pandora effect’ will now be formally recognized in the industry’s gold standard for measurement.”