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The Billboard 200 chart currently tracks each week’s top 200 albums by sales. An updated ranking will include streaming and digital track sales beginning Dec. 3.
Photo: Todd Williamson / Invision / AP
"We Can Survive," Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, Calif.
It marks the biggest update since 1991, when Nielsen’s point-of-sale data was added to measure album sales.
Billboard says the new methodology aims to provide a more comprehensive sense of an album’s popularity, and acts like Ariana Grande and Maroon 5 are likely to benefit because their streaming and digital song sales have been outperforming their album sales.
This move comes after music acts like Taylor Swift and Jason Aldean pulled their tunes from the streaming service Spotify.