It’s Friday. Photo: YouTube

Billboard announced on Friday it will be joining the rest of us out here in 2019 where streams of YouTube videos are considered an important cultural metric. Streams of music videos will now be counted toward the publication’s weekly album charts, including the Billboard 200. YouTube streams will be counted the same way as streams from other platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, the New York Times reports. One album sale is the same as 1,250 clicks from a paying user of a given platform and the same as 3,750 from a nonpaying user.

From the New York Times:

Starting Jan. 3, Billboard will count the popularity of official music videos on YouTube, as well as those on Apple Music, Tidal and Vevo, in the magazine’s flagship album chart, the Billboard 200. (YouTube plays have been part of Billboard’s singles ranking, the Hot 100, since 2013.) User-generated content — like memes or cover versions — will not count.

Using YouTube streams for the Hot 100 list in previous years is how Jake Paul’s diss track, “It’s Everyday Bro” cracked the list at No. 94 back in 2017. It’s also how his ex-girlfriend’s diss track dissing his diss track found itself on the Hot 100 list. (That one was called “It’s EveryNight Sis.” I cannot make this shit up.) Our retroactive congratulations to Miss Rebecca Black. (“Friday” peaked at No. 58 on the Hot 100 in 2011, before YouTube streams were counted.)