Apple Announces 116 Charts

By: Mackenzie Dineen

Apple Music executives announced the iOS 12 beta update on Sunday, September 7, that will feature 116 global and regional Top 100 charts. The charts will be updated daily at 12 a.m P.T. and are based on the most frequently streamed music per region, and

globally. The charts will be downloadable and can be added to user’s Apple Music libraries, and are available as an update for Android users. Apple Music is on an innovative streak, most notably reaching 50 million subscribers, as well as creating a music publishing division within the past few weeks.

Apple is not the only media company to release independent charts, however. One week after Billboard re-wired their chart algorithm to reflect paid streams at a greater value than non-paid streams, YouTube released its own local charts. Stephen Bryan, YouTube’s head of Label Relations, told Rolling Stone that because of YouTube’s influence in a digital culture, Youtube is “the clearest view in what’s happening in music today.”

It is true that both streaming services make up a portion of the market that was once dominated by record purchase. However, there is controversy as to whether the number of streams a track receives is directly proportional to the traditional measurement of popularity, record sales. Apple and YouTube charts operate under the assumption that the largest number of streams infer the greatest popularity of a track. At the very least, these charts can serve as a helpful reference for those who primarily stream music.