In a surprising turn of events, Billboard has made an official announcement stating that digitally downloaded singles from artists’ personal websites will no longer be counted towards the total sales for the Hot 100 chart. This decision, which was revealed yesterday, has already taken effect as of today. Consequently, the upcoming Hot 100 chart will be the final one to include website sales in its calculations. While this change predominantly affects K-Pop acts such as BTS, there is one hip-hop artist who has heavily relied on website sales as a strategy—Nicki Minaj.

Nicki’s devoted fanbase, known as the Barbz, has frequently employed mass buying tactics to propel her music up the Billboard charts. A notable example of this was seen with her collaborative single with 6ix9ine in 2020, titled “Trollz.” Fans purchased the song in huge numbers through Minaj’s website, leading to its debut at the pinnacle of the charts in its first week. However, the song experienced a rapid decline in subsequent weeks, indicating that its initial number-one debut did not accurately reflect its actual popularity. Following 6ix9ine’s string of singles in 2020, Billboard made alterations to the way they calculated album sales by prohibiting the inclusion of album sales with merchandise bundles. In a new development starting today, bundles will be reintroduced to the Billboard 200 formula, as long as they provide fans with a physical copy of the album they are purchasing.

BILLBOARD IMPLEMENTS CHANGES TO HOT 100

Halfway through the year, one of the most prominent stories on Billboard’s charts revolves around the hip-hop genre. To date, no rap song has managed to secure the number-one position on the Hot 100, nor has a rap album claimed the top spot on the Billboard 200. Although some rap releases have come close on both charts, they have ultimately been overshadowed by Morgan Wallen’s incredibly dominant run with his new album and single, “Last Night.”

At first, it appeared that a rap album might finally pose a challenge to Wallen’s reign at the top. Young Thug’s “Business Is Business” was initially anticipated to sell 110,000 copies in its debut week. However, revised projections have lowered that figure to 87,000, indicating that Wallen is likely to maintain his position for another week.