DUBAI: YouTube has announced the launch of YouTube Charts, a collection of the top songs and artists in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE.
Starting on Sept. 29, the charts will be released on a weekly basis offering the Arabic music industry a more streamlined and transparent approach to measuring the popularity of its tunes.
Liliana Abudalo, YouTube’s head of music for the Middle East and North Africa region, said: “I have seen firsthand the impact YouTube has had on the Arabic music industry. There has been a great shift in how artists release their work in terms of production and promotion on YouTube.
“YouTube Charts will help emerging and established artists highlight their success, and with more than 2 billion monthly logged-in users it will offer a more holistic representation of a song’s performance,” she added.
Over the years, YouTube has partnered with key music labels in the region to provide them with the tools and knowledge to help grow their music business on the platform. As of August, there were 170 music channels in MENA with more than 1 million subscribers, compared to only 18 in August 2017 – a growth of 800 percent in four years.
Liliana Abudalo, YouTube’s head of music for the Middle East and North Africa region. (Supplied)
Moe Hamzeh, managing director of Warner Music Middle East, said: “YouTube Music charts is a great platform for our artists here in the Middle East. It’s a way for fans to see at a glance which songs are popping across the region, and we hope that leads to them discovering more about the artists behind the songs and the rest of their music, and that’s another tool to help us build our artists’ careers.”
The top songs list in YouTube Charts will rank up to 100 tunes based on a number of factors such as streams on YouTube Music, views on a song’s video on YouTube, and how often a song is used in user-generated content on YouTube.
Three of the YouTube Charts will consist of the top 100 songs, artists, and music videos played on the platform over a seven-day period, along with a fourth tracking the top 20 newest and hottest music trends.
The charts will be updated every week on Sunday and will be available on YouTube Music as well as at charts.youtube.com.
