This week the Billboard Hot 100, the magazine’s 55-year-old
singles chart, takes a evolutionary step by incorporating YouTube plays into
its formula. The move comes just in time for Baauer’s song “Harlem Shake,” the
latest viral video phenomenon, which will make its debut at No. 1 this week
thanks to the change.
“Harlem Shake,” a bass-heavy hip-hop track with no lyrics
beyond a few samples, got little mainstream attention when it was released in
May as a free download. But this month its popularity exploded on YouTube, as
thousands of fans uploaded videos of themselves dancing — some might say simply
flailing — along to the song. By last week more than 4,000 videos were going up
each day.
Download sales and Spotify streams of the track also
skyrocketed. But the remarkable trajectory of “Harlem Shake” led Billboard to
move forward right away on its methodology update, something it had been in
discussions with YouTube about for nearly two years, Bill Werde, the magazine’s
editorial director, said on Wednesday.
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