The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the United States. It is based on multimetric consumption, including album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming. The chart started on March 24, 1956 under a different name. On May 13, 1967 it expanded to 200 positions, and adopted its current name on March 14, 1992.
The chart ranks albums by album sales, track sales, and streams. An album sale counts as 1 unit. 10 track sales count as 1 unit. 1500 premium audio streams from services like Spotify count as 1 unit, while 3600 ad-supported streams count as 1 unit.
Achieving #1 Spot
Artists aim for #1 on the chart. Getting there takes radio play, sales, and streams. Fans can help by buying albums and tracks and streaming them. The chart measures true popularity – how much albums are listened to and purchased.
Billboard 200 Calculation
The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the United States based on multimetric consumption, including album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming. It started on March 24, 1956. On May 13, 1967 it expanded to 200 positions. On March 14, 1992 it adopted its current name.
The chart ranks albums by sales, track sales, and streams. An album sale counts as 1 unit. 10 track sales count as 1 unit. Streams also count towards an album’s ranking.
Artists aim for #1 on the chart by getting radio play, sales, and streams. Fans can help by buying albums and tracks and streaming them. The chart measures an album’s popularity by how much it is listened to and purchased.