With the advent of the internet, the music industry has been shapeshifting at a rapid rate. And these days, streaming is its key driver.
The interconnected nature of modern technology has bulldozed geographical barriers and facilitated the formation of global villages. Not just socially, but musically.
To reflect this, Billboard have announced the creation of an all-new chart – the Billboard Global 100.
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Set to launch later this year, the tally is billed as “the first authoritative chart ranking top songs globally, based on worldwide streams and download sales.”
Speaking on the historic move, Billboard’s Senior VP Charts and Data Products. Silvio Pietroluongo said:
“The launch of The Global 100 marks a major step in the continuing evolution of the Billboard charts. For decades, the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 has been viewed throughout the world as the barometer of success in music. Now, Billboard is proud to present a companion chart that will measure the impact of songs on an international scale.”
The Global 100 will be powered by Nielsen data and will track activity in more than 180 countries. Much its operation will mirror the Hot 100 (sans radio) in that it’ll rank based on a weighted formula that factors digital downloads and streams (free + subscription) from all the leading audio and video platforms.
It’ll be interesting to see how the streaming component sways the game, because while the Spotify’s and Apple Music’s dominate in many Western countries, other platforms lead the field elsewhere. A reality which may help catapult localised names to global notability.
More broadly, we envisage this helping further diversify the music landscape on a global scale – which is an amazing stride!