Starting in January, Billboard will roll out some updates to its weekly album chart.
Starting with the Billboard Charts dated January 18, 2025 (reflecting the Luminate tracking week ending January 9), six long-standing album genre charts have transitioned from sales-only rankings to consumption-based aggregations. , that layer will expand. It also adds depth to the three album genre charts that were already consumption-based.
A consumption-based album chart compiled by Luminate ranks the week’s most popular titles based on equivalent album units earned. Units consist of album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit is equal to 1 album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from the album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription-on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs on the album. equivalent.
The first Billboard album chart to move from traditional album sales-based rankings to consumption-based aggregation was the Billboard 200 across all genres in December 2014. The majority of Billboard’s album genre charts transitioned to consumption-based rankings in January 2017. (The January 2025 update essentially moves Billboard’s album charts for all genres to consumption-based rankings.)
Finally, the Heatseekers Album Chart, which ranks the week’s most popular albums by up-and-coming artists, will be retired from the list effective January 18, 2025. Billboard plans to continue charting new and emerging artists on its weekly Emerging Artist Chart, which began in 2017. The Emerging Artists Chart uses the same formula as the comprehensive Billboard Artist 100 to rank the week’s most popular emerging artists. Covers artist activity across multiple Billboard charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200. (Artist 100 lists the most popular artists overall each week). The Emerging Artists chart includes artists who have made the top 25 on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, and two or more top 10 placements on Billboard’s “Hot” Song Genre chart and/or consumption-based “Top.” Artists who have achieved this will be excluded. Album genre ranking.
Here’s a summary of changes to Billboard’s Album Genre chart, starting with the chart dated January 18, 2025.
Bluegrass Albums – Moving from a #10 album sales-only chart to a #15 consumption-based chart, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
Blues Albums – Moving from an album sales-only chart at #10 to a consumption-based chart at #15, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
Cast Album – Moves from an album sales-only chart at #10 to a consumption-based chart at #15, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
Classic Crossover Albums – Moves from an album sales-only chart at #10 to a consumption-based chart at #15, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
Traditional Classic Albums – Moves from a #10 album sales-only chart to a #15 consumption-based chart, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
Kids Albums – Moving from an album sales-only chart at #15 to a consumption-based chart at #25, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
New Age Albums – Expanded from #10 to #15, but is still a consumption-based chart, ranking albums on a comparable album basis.
Tropical Album – Expanded from #20 to #25. is still a consumption-based chart, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
World Album – Expanded from #15 to #25. is still a consumption-based chart, ranking albums by equivalent album unit.
As with all genres of consumed album charts, the album genre chart rankings above include both current and catalog titles.
