Lyor Cohen Announces YouTube’s Billboard Return After Chart Dispute
Originally published by AllHipHop Read the original
Lyor Cohen is bringing YouTube’s music audience back into Billboard’s U.S. rankings after a year outside the charts.
The platform’s global music chief confirmed the return in a November 9 update.
“Billboard’s new methodology better reflects how fans engage with music today across both subscription and ad-supported services,” Cohen wrote in YouTube’s announcement.
The company says its streaming data will count again starting in 2027.
The original split centered on how much a stream should count when listeners aren’t paying for a subscription. YouTube objected to a system that gave paid listening more weight than ad-supported activity.
That disagreement left artists’ YouTube audiences outside Billboard’s calculations after the platform stopped supplying its data. Cohen’s update signals that the revised approach is enough to bring the company back.
The return hasn’t happened yet and the announcement doesn’t name a specific starting week. YouTube’s own charts remain available while that switch is still ahead.
YouTube originally announced its withdrawal on December 17, 2025, ending data delivery after January 16, 2026.
