The Billboard 200 isn't as exciting to report on as it used to be. You don't need a music industry sales wonk to tell you that: People just aren't buying music in the same way as they used to, leading to noticeably smaller album-moving numbers for performers who don't seem to have lost any clout on the radio, hence acts such as Taylor Swift being the only ones to go platinum thus far during 2014. The folks at Billboard have decided to fix the problem...by working streams into its counts.
The math is based on "accepted industry benchmarks for digital and streaming data." In other words, 10 individual songs downloaded from a particular album now equates to one album purchased. Furthermore, 1,500 streams from that album now equal an album sale. In short, the Billboard 200 will no longer keep track of how many records are actually sold but the equivalent of how many albums sold an artist is getting paid for. This is absurd, making it almost impossible to gauge how many physical albums were sold unless Billboard opts to inform us of that on the side. No longer will we be able to do the math and learn that Swift has gone double platinum...only that she's made the equivalent of 2 million albums sold.
If our complaints seem petty, let's consider the impact that this would have on this week's charts, had they followed the new system. Nick Jonas debuted at no. 6 on the Billboard 200 this week after selling 37,000 copies of his new self-titled album. However, he also placed at no. 7 on the Digital Downloads chart with his single "Jealous," which sold 83,000 downloads. Following Billboard's formula, they can now add 8,300 "album sales" to Jonas's total. That moves him from no. 6 to no. 5 on the Billboard 200 ahead of Big K.R.I.T.'s Cadillatica, which sold 44,000 copies. If K.R.I.T. doesn't have singles to pad his numbers, he'll have to settle for no. 6. That means Jonas is being rewarded for "selling more albums" than the emcee, although he hasn't. The Digital Downloads chart exists to proclaim the triumphs of bestselling songs. The Billboard 200 existed to promote to bestselling albums...but no longer.
This will also make it easier for older albums to sneak back onto the 200 and displace albums from smaller performers who just barely crack the 200. Last week's no. 200 album was Deerhoof's new record La Isla Bonita. Consider tracks that sell perpetually, perhaps singles from the Trans Siberian Orchestra at this time of year, and Deerhoof may find itself bumped off the list and not featured in our Back of The Billboards segment.
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