. "Each receive a major consumer-influenced facelift, as digital download sales (tracked by Nielsen SoundScan) and streaming data (tracked by Nielsen BDS from such services as Spotify, Muve, Slacker, Rhapsody, Rdio and Xbox Music, among others) will now be factored into the 50-position rankings, along with existing radio airplay data monitored by BDS. The makeovers will enable these charts to match the methodology applied to Billboard's signature all-genre songs ranking, the Billboard Hot 100."
Oh dear… are you kidding me? I dunno why but I always felt that, as oppossed to television ratings, the Billboard charts were a very clear picture of winners and losers. He who sells the most copies of an album or a single wins. But it was obvious that case was no longer so when Taylor Swift's humungous "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" slipped off the number one spot in the Billboard 200.
How could it be? How could millions of units moved not equal a smash hit single? How on earth could Maroon 5 have sold more units? A song that has been out for months and still isn't the hit Taylor's is?
So now we know, Taylor didn't lend her song to streaming services and lost out for that reason. Money doesn't matter, sales doesn't matter. It is just a mess. It is a joke. The Billboard charts are like throwing darts at a dartboard. Who knows what is selling the most?