Categories: Meme

Blame YouTube for getting The Harlem Shake to the top of the US Billboard Hot 100

The times, they are a changin’ and their latest change has helped viral sensation The Harlem Shake rocket to the top of the U.S Billboard charts.

Starting from this week the tracks that make up the Billboard Chart’s Hot 100 will not just be decided by their sales numbers, or radio plays, or even downloads, but also by the number of views they’ve had on YouTube.

And this change has already brought dramatic results.  Thanks to YouTube, Baauer’s Harlem Shake has become only the 21st track in the Billboard chart’s 55 year history to enter the chart in pole position.

It’s not just users watching the original video that has helped the track reach the lofty heights of the Billboard chart: copycat videos, of which there are over 106,000 at this point, have also been taken into account when accumulating the final viewing/listening figure.

To be honest, what’s probably more surprising about this story, rather than just that YouTube is now going to help decide the song list, is that it has taken so long for it to have been included.  For over a year now data from music streaming services, such as Spotify, have been able to influence the list.

According to Billboard Magazine the publication had been discussing the possibility of including YouTube views in its official charts for over two years but it was only this week when the deal went live.

While YouTube will only be one in a growing number of factors to influence the position of tracks in the charts musicians will hope that with the right promotion on the site they could spur viewers to stream or download the their music and bag themselves a chart position.

What this means for music and musicians is quite striking – you no longer need to sell a lot, or even any, tracks to become a chart success in the future.  And this could be just what the music industry and struggling artists need in order to take the plastic, corporate sheen, off of the charts.

Or it could just mean that marketers will become very skilled at ensuring their clients’ music videos become viral sensations.

Ajit Jain

Ajit Jain is marketing and sales head at Octal Info Solution, a leading iPhone app development company and offering platform to hire Android app developers for your own app development project. He is available to connect on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

View Comments

  • The Harlem Shake is really fun and it is really interesting to watch and participate in. (This is my opinion) You can watch my high school preform the Harlem Shake at this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kLr2a0OGIg

Share
Published by
Ajit Jain

Recent Posts

AI safety for kids a top concern for COPPA compliant AI startups

June means the start of summer is upon us, and as teachers put the 2024-2025…

2 days ago

DARPA to simulate disease outbreaks: model lockdown, vaccination & messaging strategies

Why is DARPA modeling disease outbreaks & intervention strategies while simultaneously looking to predict &…

4 days ago

ManagedMethods launches Advanced Phishing solution against rising tide of malicious emails 

Earlier this year, a report from non-profit organization the Center for Internet Security shone a…

4 days ago

DARPA ‘CoasterChase’ looks to mitigate stress with ingestible neurotech

DARPA is putting together a research program called CoasterChase that aims to mitigate warfighters' stress…

5 days ago

U.S. Fusion Power Plant Design Passes Independent Review

In the global race to develop and commercialize fusion power reactors, U.S. scientists have reached…

5 days ago

Pet Health Meets Convenience: New Partnership Aims to Empower Pet Owners with At-Home Testing

Innovative Pet Lab, a science-forward company offering at-home health tests for pets, today announced a…

1 week ago