Billboard adds YouTube views to Hot 100 formula & 'Harlem Shake' hits No. 1

Billboard's historic Hot 100 singles chart will reflect a big change in the way music popularity is monitored. The company will add YouTube views to its chart formula, which allowed for Baauer's viral hit, “Harlem Shake,” to hit no. 1 this week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

“The notion that a song has to sell in order to be a hit feels a little two or three years ago to me. The music business today — much to its credit — has started to learn that there are lots of different ways a song can be a hit, and lots of different ways that the business can benefit from it being a hit,” Bill Werde, Billboard magazine's editorial director, told the Times about the chart change-up.

Baauer "Harlem Shake"Baauer "Harlem Shake"

Billboard's all-genre Hot 100 chart ranked songs according to sales, airplay and recently added streaming from sites like Spotify. YouTube views will now also be added to the equation to allow big hits on the video site a chance to prosper on the chart.

Like PSY's “Gangnam Style” before it, Baauer's “Harlem Shake” inspired many parody clips with participants moving to the electronic banger. The song and the waves of videos it created accounted for 103 million views across YouTube. Combined with 262,000 copies sold on iTunes, Baauer's “Harlem Shake” will be Billboard Hot 100's newest no. 1 on Thursday, displacing Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' “Thrift Shop.”

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