Billboard has changed its chart rankings to give paid streaming preference over free streams. The changes will take place June 29th and they have new system divided into two different pyramids. Paid streams will receive one full point per play, ad-supported streams will receive two-thirds of a point and programmed streams will get one-half of a point per stream for the Billboard 100 chart. The Billboard 200 will equate 1,250 paid streams to one album and it will take 3,750 ad-supported streams to measure the same thing. The changes start the week of June 29th and there are even more changes slated to begin in 2019 that will distinguish between the different paid tiers in subscription services. Fans are already questioning the new system because there are many artists who stream heavily on free platforms like Spotify and YouTube.Â
