Introduction to YouTube Music Charts and Music Insights

YouTube Music Charts and Music Insights provide the music community with information on YouTube views, to celebrate artist success on YouTube. Music Insights allows you to search and filter viewership data for artists and locations based on total views, while Music Charts are a weekly ranking of the top music on YouTube.

Built on the same underlying data, both Charts and Insights calculate views for artists and for tracks following a consistent methodology:

  • A track’s “total views” reflect views of videos that use all or part of a track – including official videos, live videos, fan videos, and commercials.
  • An artist’s “total views” are the combined views of tracks associated with the artist.

How total views are calculated for tracks

Views are counted for each track based on its International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), a “tag” that digitally identifies music tracks. On YouTube, a system called Content ID also analyzes videos automatically on behalf of the content owners. If an ISRC is assigned to an artist’s track and is claimed by Content ID, then YouTube counts any video that includes the track. The video could use all or only part of a track.


YouTube Music Charts

The YouTube Music Charts break down the most viewed music on YouTube by video, artist, track, and viral score:

  • “All Videos” ranks music videos by video view count in the previous week.
  • “Viral Videos” are scored using a number of popularity factors, with the goal of highlighting videos with the most uplift in the previous week.
  • The rankings in “Tracks” reflect total views for videos that contain a particular track, including user-generated content.
  • “Artists” rankings show the top 100 artists by total views.

Music Insights

YouTube Music Insights allows you to search and filter viewership data for artists and locations based on total views. Note that all of the numbers in YouTube Music Insights reflect data collected since September, 2014.

Locations

Finding an audience is critical, so we give you the tools to see view counts for cities, states, regions, and countries. For each location, you also get “locally popular” listings—a weekly summary of artists and tracks that are doing especially well in that location.

Filters

Click the filter button to adjust the date range and locations for your results. Note that because Music Insights contains data since September 1, 2014, that is the earliest date you can use to set the date range filter. Also, note that “locally popular” listings reflect the data for the last week of the filtered date range.


FAQ

Why is the number of views in Music Insights different from YouTube’s view count?

Music Insights compiles views since September 2014, which could result in a lower view count than an older individual video on YouTube. Also, Music Insights compiles views for ALL videos that feature a track, which could result in a higher view count than an individual YouTube video.

Why can’t I find my favorite artist or location?

We’re constantly adding new artists and locations to our database. There’s a good chance that we’ll get to it soon.

What does “locally popular” mean?

The “Locally Popular” tab gives you weekly summaries of music that’s unusually popular for a given city or region, as opposed to what’s popular across an entire country.

Why is a track missing on an artist’s YouTube Music Insights page?

It may be that the video was claimed by a content owner without using an International Standard Recording Code. Without an accompanying ISRC, the video won’t appear in an artist’s Music Insights.

Introduction to YouTube Music Charts and Music Insights

YouTube Music Charts and Insights provide visibility into the music being consumed by fans on YouTube. The Music Charts represent a weekly ranking of the top music on YouTube. Music Insights allows you to dive deeper. You can search, filter and view data for thousands of artists and locations.

Charts and Insights calculate views for artists and tracks following a consistent methodology:

  • A track’s “total views” reflect views of videos that use all or most of a track – including official videos, live videos, fan videos, and commercials.
  • An artist’s “total views” are the combined views of tracks associated with the artist.

How total views are calculated for tracks

Views are counted for each track based on the number of views of videos containing all or most of that song.


YouTube Music Charts

The YouTube Music Charts break down the most viewed music on YouTube by video, artist, track, and viral score:

  • “Top Tracks” reflect total views for videos that contain a particular track, including some user-generated content.
  • “Top Videos” ranks music videos by video view count in the previous week.
  • “Viral Videos” are scored using a number of popularity factors, with the goal of highlighting videos with the most uplift in the previous week.
  • “Top Artists” rankings show the top 100 artists by total views.

For the top tracks chart, if a song has been in the charts for 52 weeks it is placed into recurrent status and no longer eligible for the Top Tracks chart unless it has a significant week-over-week growth. If a song ranks below #50 on the chart then it is removed after 20 weeks unless it has a significant week-over-week growth.


Music Insights

YouTube Music Insights allows you to search and filter viewership data for artists and locations based on total views over the past three years.

Locations

Music Insights gives you the tools to see view counts for cities, states, regions, and countries.

Filters

Click the filter button to adjust the date range and locations for your results. Music Insights only contains data on a rolling three-year basis.


FAQ

Why is the number of views in Music Insights different from YouTube’s view count?

Music Insights compiles views for the past three years, which could result in a lower view count than an older individual video on YouTube. Because Music Insights compiles views for ALL videos that feature a track, view counts can be higher than an individual YouTube video.

Why can’t I find my favorite artist or location?

We’re constantly adding new artists and locations to our database. There’s a good chance that we’ll get to it soon.