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Billboard finally adds Pandora streaming to its charts


In addition, Pandora will also impact various streaming-based charts, and Hot 100 formula-based genre rankings such as Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, among others. The two parties are not wasting time in integrating data, either: Pandora data will be incorporated into the Billboard?s February 11 chart.

?We're thrilled to bring Pandora aboard as a contributor to our songs charts," said Silvio Pietroluongo,? vice president of charts and data development at Billboard. "The music tastes and listening habits of Pandora's large and influential user base is something that we've longed to include as a measure of song popularity in the Hot 100 and various other Billboard charts."

Pandora and Billboard
The integration has had an immediate effect: Pandora data positively impacts nearly 40 titles on the Billboard Hot 100, including nine songs that improve in rank by five or more places if compared to the chart absent of Pandora data. 

Among the titles showing such marked improvement thanks to Pandora plays are Rihanna's "Sex With Me," Bebe Rexha's "I Got You," Jason Aldean's "Any Ol' Barstool," and "Chill Bill" by Rob $tone featuring J. Davi$ and Spooks. The latter track is among Pandora's top 10 most-streamed songs of the week, which helps it place more than 10 spots higher on the Hot 100 had Pandora data not been added.

Bebe Rexha

The application joins other programmed music streaming services as Billboard chart contributors, including Slacker, Google Radio, Napster and AOL Radio, and on-demand subscription services including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon, SoundCloud. Billboard has made quick work of Pandora?s newly minted status as a streaming service, which it has technically only been for one month. 

Recent struggles
Pandora recently announced that it had axed 7 percent of its workforce at the beginning of this year, primarily due to lost market share from the likes of streaming?s resident boogeymen, Spotify and Apple Music. So while the partnership increases awareness for the already-relevant Pandora, the service will have to find some way to successfully monetize if it wants to stay afloat in the hypercompetitive streaming arena.

One way that could happen is through a new visual ad experience launched by the company, which after beta testing brands such as Denny?s, Express and Google saw a 50 percent increase in time spent with the ads on mobile (see story). 

Another would be to follow competitor Tidal?s lead: Telecommunications giant Sprint acquired a third of the music streaming service (see story). 

Migos' "Bad and Boujee" is currently at the top of the charts

?Next Big Sound has been a data partner of Billboard's since 2010 with the introduction of the Social 50 chart," said Alex White, head of Next Big Sound at Pandora. "Based on our years of data expertise across social and streaming sources, we know the staggering volume of Pandora data that has not been counted. 

?We project that the Pandora data will have material impact on the chart positions. I am excited that the Hot 100 will now include the enormous number of spins on Pandora."