Billboard 200 albums chart to include YouTube streams

San Francisco: Billboard has announced video and audio data from Google-owned YouTube, as well as visual plays from several music streaming services, will soon be factored into the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Apart from YouTube, officially licensed video content plays from the likes of Spotify, Apple, Tidal and Vevo will also be included in the album chart's calculations starting January 3, 2020.

Video streams have counted toward many of Billboard's song-specific charts since 2013, but have never been incorporated into the albums chart, The Verge had recently reported.

Traditionally, Billboard's charts have been seen as a barometer of success within the music industry.

The inclusion of video data into the Billboard 200 albums chart arrives five years after audio streams were added, marking the chart's shift from a measure of pure sales to a consumption model, said a report in Billboard.com.

It is pertinent to note that the addition of video will also impact Billboard's genre album consumption charts, such as Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Latin among others.

Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube, called the changes a "very important moment in making the chart a more accurate representation of what people are listening to", according to the Billboard.com.