YouTube will now rank artists based on organic views

In an effort to improve the credibility and accuracy of YouTube Music Charts and 24-hour record debut, the company has announced changes to its policy, which will now only consider organic views while ranking artists.

Views garnered via paid ads will not be counted when YouTube is ranking artists. According to the company, these steps are being taken as “YouTube Charts have become an indispensable source for the industry”, and they would like to “provide more transparency”.

Concerning 24-hour record debut, YouTube will be implementing the same policy and in the future videos with the highest organic views within 24-hours of its public release will be eligible for the record debut. These changes will not affect the existing 24-hour record debuts on the platform.

Organic sources include views from search results, shared direct links, embeds on other sites, YouTube’s homepage, watch next and trending tabs.

“We are no longer counting paid advertising views on YouTube in the YouTube Music Charts calculation. Artists will now be ranked based on view counts from organic plays,” YouTube announced. “Video advertising is an effective way to reach specific audiences with a song debut, but paid advertising views on YouTube will no longer be considered when looking at a 24-hour record debut.”

You can learn more about how songs and artists are ranked for YouTube Music Charts here and how are video views counted here.

Earlier today, Google One was updated with a feature that allows Android users to create automatic backups of their data.

On Thursday, Google announced updates to its search ranking guidelines that are now aimed at identifying and showcasing original reporting at the top of the search results and ensure that it stays there longer. Google Photos app was also updated with a new feature called Memories, which archives user’s old images in a stories-like format that’s used by Snapchat, multiple Facebook-owned properties as well as YouTube.

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