We take pride in our methodology, data collection procedures and analytical approach. See below for FAQs and additional clarification on what we do and how we do it.
Worldwide and country-level data
NEW: Tencent / TME data
If you’d like to ask a question or suggest more content for the Knowledge Base, submit a ticket! We update FAQs with new answers regularly.
Luminate tracks data related to music consumption: all the different ways people listen to music. In CONNECT, we separate these activities into Streams, Product Sales, Song Sales and Airplay.
We also maintain a library of metadata for artists, products and recordings, which we use to build and organize the CONNECT database.
Luminate is an independent third-party data tracking and analytics provider. As an industry standard source for music consumption data, we receive verified sales and streaming figures directly from the major labels, retailers and streaming DSPs every day. We also receive data from partnerships with other measurement organizations (i.e. Mediabase, StreetPulse) and databases.
The CONNECT platform authenticates, ingests, aggregates and visualizes the data.
See Data sources for more.
Yes, we use limited modeling.
Equivalents are straightforward mathematical formulas that convert various numbers of streams, downloads and sales into single units. Most of our equivalent figures are based on directly reported data, with no modeling needed. However, not all stores report sales to Luminate. So we use a model to account for missing data in the independent retail sector. Within Product Sales, the independent store numbers that make up a portion of retail sales are partially modeled.
Songs must be registered with us at the Recording level with individual ISRCs. Albums must be registered at the Product level with ICPNs. Learn more about Recording and Product registration here.
ISRC and ICPN data helps us build database entries for Songs, Releases and Release Groups; we then use metadata to group music by genre and attach titles to the correct artists.
CONNECT tracks musical entities using alphanumeric identifiers including Luminate IDs, ISRCs and ICPNs. ISRCs are attached to song recordings; ICPNs comprise all product barcodes; ISNIs are unique identifiers for musical artists. These universal codes help identify and differentiate musical entities across the industry.
Read about Luminate/External IDs and why they matter here.
Register songs and artists with Music Data Enrichment (Quansic) to receive an official ISRC (Recording) or ISNI (Artist) identifier. You can register one entity at a time.
Usually, artist information comes to us from our data partners. We use this data to create Artist Dashboards. Sometimes, we don’t receive enough metadata to generate a complete Dashboard.
We accept submissions for individual artists via our Artist Registration Form. Be sure to include all required ID codes and metadata.
Performers listed as Main Artist(s) for an item have 100% of consumption activity for that item tracked on their Dashboards. We attribute collaborations to both (or all) credited Main Artists equally. (Yes, this means consumption is “double-counted” a.k.a. attributed to both artists at once).
When possible, we also track collaborations as a unit. Sometimes, we don't get enough metadata to create a collaboration Dashboard. We are working on enhanced logic to identify collaborations and expect this to improve over time.
Not at this time. Only the Main Artist(s) on a song have activity for that song tracked on Dashboards. We plan to attribute fractional (<100%) consumption activity to Featured and Remix artists in the future.
For individual performers, Country of Origin = their place of birth. For bands/musical groups, Country of Origin = location where the group was founded/formed.
We receive direct data from partnerships with over 500 providers worldwide. These include music retailers (chain and independent), DSPs and specialized measurement/tracking services such as Mediabase.
Yes. Check provider data availability using the in-app Data Sources grid. Read more here.
Full provider breakouts are restricted to rights holders and certain account types. Contact your Luminate representative for details.
Sample provider lists can be seen in the Knowledge Base here. These lists are representative, not comprehensive.
Activity to Date (ATD) starts 1/1/2014 in the U.S. and Canada and includes Streams, Song Sales and Product Sales.
Worldwide ATD starts with Week 1 of 2019 and includes Streams and Song Sales only.
Yes, but not immediately. We have legacy U.S. consumption data from before 2014; we’ll add it to CONNECT in the future. For now, we can pull limited U.S. and Canada data from 2004-2014 by request (and within reason). Email help@luminatedata.com to request historical consumption data; a team member will get in touch to discuss further.
Yes. Physical and online retailers as well as streaming DSPs can apply to become Luminate data providers. You must meet our minimum qualifications, perform a test data share and execute a Provider Agreement with Luminate. Review provider requirements and start your application here.
CONNECT displays country-level data for over 60 countries. Complete worldwide data comprises 250+ countries, but not all data can be displayed at the country level.
We add countries when we’re able to track streaming and song sales from a minimum number of providers.
In CONNECT, Worldwide = a full aggregate of all country-level and non-country-specific data. Some DSPs only report one global total, with no country-level breakouts.
The Worldwide total includes 1) some global activity that is not separated at the country level and 2) activity from some countries that are not individually viewable in CONNECT.
We report country-level data when certain requirements have been met. We need regularly reported, verifiable data from within that country from a minimum number of providers that can attribute and segment Streams and Song Sales.
If we get limited data from a country via a major global provider, it may still be included in Worldwide totals.
See countries listed by data availability in the Knowledge Base here.
In CONNECT, the Data Sources grid also lists providers by country. Within Dashboards/Analysis/Report Builder, use the Location dropdown or Data Controls menu to browse the countries for which we have consumption data. You can also export some location data in grid form.
Sometimes, we do not receive enough data that meets our requirements during a particular time period. Providers may be temporarily unavailable, submit incomplete data or stop reporting within a country.
When this happens, we don’t report country-level data for the affected date(s). Some provider data may still be included in Worldwide totals, but you may see a gap or trend break for a specific location.
This issue is uncommon starting in 2022. Most country-level data beginning in Week 1 of 2022 is complete and continuous.
What’s Tencent / TME?
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) is a China-based group of global DSPs including QQ Music, KuGou Music, JOOX and Kuwo Music. TME began reporting data to Luminate starting in Week 1 of 2026. Read more about the partnership here.
What activity does TME report?
TME reports worldwide streams (Premium / On-Demand / Audio + Video) and song sales.
Does that include all activity on Tencent Music platforms?
No. TME only reports activity for new music (songs released on or after October 15, 2024) that clears a streaming threshold (at least 10k streams) on a given day.
How far back does TME-reported data go?
We began tracking activity from Tencent Music in Week 1 of 2026. Worldwide streaming and song sale totals include TME data from January 2, 2026 onward.
No. All TME data, from all locations, is combined and tracked as part of the Worldwide total. We do not break out country-level activity for TME.
No. We don’t break out providers for Worldwide data.
Did adding TME create a trend break?
Yes, for some Worldwide aggregates. TME data in CONNECT dates from Week 1 of 2026 (January 2). This could create YOY trend breaks from 2025-26 when viewing worldwide activity for current music in Analysis, Dashboards or Trend Reports. Expect Worldwide Streams and Song Sales to be higher beginning W1 2026.
Is TME data included in the Billboard charts?
Not at this time.
Does TME data affect Market Share?
No. Market Share covers the U.S. and Canada only. Worldwide TME activity is not included in those calculations. We will inform customers if this changes in the future.
Luminate receives audio streaming data (both on-demand and programmed) as well as digital song sales directly from major providers in the U.S, Canada and worldwide. These include Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Pandora, SoundCloud, Melon and many more. See Streaming data providers for details.
Luminate receives on-demand video streaming data directly from major providers in the U.S, Canada and worldwide, including YouTube, Spotify and Vevo. See Streaming data providers for details.
Yes. We track streaming activity for official video content as well as UGC (user-generated content). UGC streams are included on Dashboards by default. Use Data Controls to include or exclude UGC activity from your totals. See Activity Types:Creation Category for details.
Creation Category filtering on Dashboards (via Data Controls) is available for some account types. However, we do not permit Creation Category filtering for all users. Talk to your Luminate account representative to discuss UGC breakout options.
Sometimes, depending on the chart. Some charts count only Official (non-UGC) video streams. Others may include Song UGC and/or Non-Song UGC. Billboard makes all final determinations on eligibility for their charts.
Negative song sale values are not a bug. It’s not unusual for an artist, song or album to display “negative” song sales in the week(s) immediately following an album release.
Some DSPs permit users who purchased songs digitally before an album’s release to buy the remainder of the album later (“Complete My Album”). When the full album becomes available, those individual songs are automatically “returned” to the DSP, often reducing the cost of the user’s digital album purchase.
In CONNECT, we track this action as one product sale—but to avoid double-counting song sales, those “returned” songs are subtracted from Song Sale totals. If enough listeners choose to complete their album purchases on release date, Song Sales can turn negative.
We use Interactive to define a Service Type within Streams. The three Service Type breakouts are On-Demand, Programmed and Interactive.
Interactive streams are audio streams from interactive (gaming) platforms that allow users to choose their own music and engage with songs as part of the experience (e.g. Fortnite). Interactive streams can be ad-supported or premium.
Unlike traditional on-demand audio streaming services, Interactive providers:
Carry a limited selection of songs
Don’t offer full-length albums to stream
Allow users to participate in or engage with music in-game
Ex. Competitive rhythm games such as Fortnite Festival
Ex. RPGs that permit simulation of singing, dancing or playing along with a track
When a user selects a track for a musical gameplay experience, that action = one Interactive stream.
Premium Interactive streams indicate that a player purchased the track; Ad-Supported Interactive streams come from users that did not purchase the track.
We launched Interactive data in partnership with Epic Games, the gaming studio behind Fortnite. Epic shares interactive on-demand streaming data directly with Luminate.
Epic reports Interactive streaming from Fortnite Festival (Main Stage and Battle Stage) as well as Featured Rotation streaming.
No. Interactive streaming must occur within a musical gameplay experience (see definition above). We do not currently track streaming activity within Jam Sessions or Music Moments.
We may add more types of Interactive consumption data in the future.
Yes. We receive worldwide Interactive consumption data from Epic. You can see Interactive streams for 60+ countries with viewable data in CONNECT.
Worldwide Interactive (ATD) tracking began Week 14 of 2025.
No. Interactive activity is currently filtered out in the default Dashboard view. You’ll need to manually select the Interactive Service Type to include the data on a Dashboard.
Set Activity Type:Streams and Breakout View:Service Type.
Open the Data Controls menu, go to Activity Options > Streams > Service Type, and check the box to see Interactive data alongside On-Demand and Programmed.
No. Billboard chart calculations do not include Interactive streams at this time.
Not yet. We’ll add Interactive data to the Music API in the future.
We receive sales figures directly from thousands of retail data providers in the U.S. and Canada. See Active retailers for details.
No. Product sales are only reported within the U.S. and Canada.
If you set your location to a different country or to Worldwide, CONNECT will display Song Sales, Streams, and/or Stream Equivalent metrics only.
Our data collection methods account for the majority of music retail. We get direct sales data (online and storefront) from the largest retailers; aggregated independent retail data comes to us via our partnership with StreetPulse. Many independent stores also report to us directly.
Some indie retail activity (local chains, individual stores, online sellers) is not reported to Luminate. In the past, we used weighting to estimate this remainder. Starting in 2024, our data scientists developed a mathematical model to calculate missing retail figures more accurately; independent retail totals in CONNECT now include modeled data.
We’ve applied the new indie retail model to sales data beginning in Week 1 of 2024. Retail data through the end of 2023 still incorporates the older weighting formula. We have no plans to restate indie modeled data from before 2024.
Indie modeling is applied weekly and added to Independent totals at the end of each chart week.
Product Sales for the week in progress (Current Week/Building Week) do not include indie modeled figures; you may see a bump in independent sales figures for the previous chart week after weekly data processing has been completed.
We get direct venue sales data via our partnership with atVenu.
Yes. CONNECT tracks two radio metrics: Airplay Spins and Airplay Audience.
Luminate receives Airplay data from two sources: Mediabase and MediaMonitors. Mediabase reports Airplay consumption metrics and metadata; MediaMonitors provides additional metadata. Read more here.
Mediabase uses audio recognition technology to detect when a song is being broadcast on a radio station. They monitor stations across the U.S. and Canada.
Airplay Audience = the number of people that heard a song on the radio in a given time frame. The audience for one spin is calculated based on market and time of day; a spin at noon in a large market draws a smaller audience than a spin at midnight in a small market.
BDS (formerly Nielsen BDS) was a unit of Luminate Data that tracked Airplay until 2022. Like Mediabase, BDS used digital pattern recognition technology to detect spins and calculated audience based on market and time of day.
In 2022, we replaced BDS with Mediabase as our Airplay data partner. However, we did not restate historical Airplay data. Pre-2022 Airplay data was originally reported by BDS.
Yes, sometimes. Certain Hot 100 charts incorporate weighted Airplay Spins and/or Audience figures. There are also designated Airplay charts that rank radio performance based on data drawn from format panels.
Billboard maintains official Airplay format panels. These are representative lists of radio stations from across the U.S. and Canada that broadcast in a particular format. We track song performance on the stations in these panels for format and genre-specific Airplay charts.
See all format panels here.
No. Airplay Spins and Airplay Audience figures at the format level won’t add up to unfiltered Airplay totals. This is because some radio stations are included in more than one format panel; summing all format-level activity would overcount activity from those stations.
The sum of all rows in Activity by Format is almost always higher than the total Airplay consumption.
We track Airplay Spins and Airplay Audience in the U.S. and Canada—sometimes literally. Airplay activity is attached to an originating radio station and assigned to a market based on the station’s ZIP code. But some stations near the U.S.-Canada border can be heard in both countries (in markets like Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, etc).
To account for this on the Airplay charts, several U.S. and Canada format panels include stations from both countries. Even if you don’t filter by format, Airplay data usually includes some cross-border activity.
CONNECT Dashboards and Reports can only aggregate data for one country at a time, which excludes cross-border Spins and Audience figures from Airplay totals. On Dashboards, Activity by Location allows you to view the remaining consumption from “the other side”—the handful of stations physically located across the border that are still tracked with that country’s Airplay activity. Note that the total reflects the total from your selected location; the other country
We track Airplay Spins and Airplay Audience in the U.S. and Canada—sometimes literally. Airplay activity is attached to an originating radio station and assigned to a market based on the station’s ZIP code. But some stations near the U.S.-Canada border can be heard in both countries (in markets like Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, etc).
To account for this on the Airplay charts, several U.S. and Canada format panels include stations from both countries. Even without format filtering, Airplay data usually includes some cross-border activity.
CONNECT Dashboards and Reports only compile data for one country at a time, which excludes cross-border Airplay activity from Spins and Audience totals. This means that Airplay consumption totals in Ranking Reports will be lower than the official Airplay chart figures.
Though cross-border activity is excluded from Airplay totals in topline Dashboard KPIs, you can still use Dashboards to see the remainder of Airplay consumption. Go to Activity by Location to see Airplay figures for both countries, including data from “the other side”—the handful of stations physically located across the border that are still tracked with that country’s Airplay activity.
Note that the Activity by Location total (top right) still only reflects the total within your selected country.
See above. Official Airplay Formats are all designated U.S. or Canada. But many format panels include stations from both countries to account for cross-border radio listenership.
To account for this on the Airplay charts, several U.S. and Canada format panels include cross-border stations. Even if you don’t filter by format, Airplay totals usually include some cross-border activity.
Yes. SiriusXM satellite radio stations are tracked by Mediabase and included in our Airplay consumption data. Some stations in our format panels are Sirius stations.
SiriusXM app activity is tracked separately (as Programmed / Premium streaming).
No. We track satellite and terrestrial Airplay together. Build an MRS Station Report to isolate activity on individual satellite or terrestrial stations.
Yes. Submit music for Airplay tracking using the Mediabase New Music Registration form. You’ll need an ISRC, required metadata and an audio file for each track.
FAQs related to Billboard and Luminate genre tagging have been moved to the main Genre article.
Go to: About Genres: How Luminate classifies music > FAQ
Streams, album sales and song sales are not equal measures of value or performance. Equivalent ratios convert sales and streaming figures into “like” units, called equivalents, that can be compared across activities and ranked on the charts. Read more here.
Luminate provides the data and the equivalent calculations used to create Billboard chart rankings. Final published Billboard charts are subject to Billboard’s eligibility rules.
By becoming a hit. That is, by gaining a high ranking based on total consumption figures (provided it meets eligibility criteria). There is no editorial factor in chart rankings; we only report the data.
Review Billboard chart eligibility rules, policies and exclusions here.
Other FAQs related to Equivalent formulas have been moved to the main Equivalents article.
Go to: Equivalent weighting: Measuring music consumption
ISRC, ICPN, ISNI: External IDs and product codes
Glossary: Acronyms, key terms and definitions
Read next: About Genres: How Luminate classifies music