Billboard to Include YouTube Plays When Determining Hot 100 Singles Chart

The NY Times reports that Billboard has added YouTube plays to the formula that it uses to determine the magazine's Hot 100 Singles Chart. The timing of the change couldn't be better for Baauer's song "Harlem Shake," which is the latest viral video to make its way to No. 1 on the chart, on account of the change. The week that the Times disclosed this policy change, the video had been viewed 103 million times in the U.S. and downloaded 262,000 times. If YouTube plays were not part of the formula, Harlem Shake would merely be somewhere in the Top 20 instead of at the top.