Billboard Must Address AI on the Charts NOW

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Everywhere you turn at the moment, systems of society are breaking down in a slowly devolving post-Capitalist apocalypse. This is true throughout the Western world, but in music specifically.

There’s perhaps no better example of this happening in music than what’s happening at Billboard, which has been publishing industry-leading charts keeping up with the consumption and distribution of music since 1940. Earlier in December right as we entered the Holiday season, the publication gutted its editorial staff. Executive editor Frank DiGiacomo, editors at large Robert Levine and Steve Knopper, senior director of live music and touring Dave Brooks, and lead analyst Glenn Peoples were all let go.

The cuts were part of greater cuts across the board at other Penske Media-owned publications. The company also owns Rolling Stone, who let go writers Andre Gee, Brittany Spanos, and others. Spanos had been at the publication for 11 years. The fact that the same company owns arguably two of the biggest legacy media brands in music is one of the many, fundamental problems in music media. If one segment of one business experiences a downturn, all businesses can be affected.

Variety is also owned by Penske Media, and they also let go senior entertainment writer Adam B. Vary and associate news editor J. Kim Murphy. All of these cuts come after other cuts at Rolling Stone back in September, including the outlet’s executive digital director Lisa Tozzi, and TV critic Alan Sepinwall. Penske also owns The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Vibe, and a host of other entertainment publications.

The Penske Media cuts are part of the continued contraction in the music and entertainment media space. They speak to sharply declining ad revenue in print/online media, and how short form video via social media is taking over the American mind.

But there are much bigger problems for Billboard as they hemorrhage cultural relevancy. After placing their charts behind paywalls, they’ve made these landmark conversation pieces for music fans simply a tool for the industry, rendering Billboard just another music publication.

As Saving Country Music pointed out recently using Billboard‘s rock charts as an example, their utter lack of backbone in categorizing music on the charts has also made Billboard virtually irrelevant in the industry as well. When a year-old Billie Eilish album is named the #1 rock album in 2025, you know the sauce is off, the the chart managers are asleep at the switch.

Gripped by the fear of being labeled “gatekeepers,” Billboard refuses to make any strong decisions that might create any blow back in the public from very loud yet very few voices, while undercutting their business model and the critical role the publication plays in the music ecosystem as they do so.

Recently, YouTube decided they will no longer be sharing their data with Billboard since the chart company measures free listens on their charts less than paid-for streams. Billboard was already doing this at a ratio that measured three ad-supported/free streams for every one paid-for stream. Billboard actually announced they were going to change the formula from 1:3 to 1:2.5 in January 2026, meaning weighing free spins even more in their metrics. But for YouTube, the change isn’t enough.

Irrespective of how anyone feels about a stream should be weighed in the charts, completely eliminating YouTube activity from the charts will significantly alter the charts in a way that will make them less representative of the public’s consumption habits behind songs. This will in turn make Billboard‘s charts even less relevant than they are now. YouTube could also just be the first of many companies choosing to pull out of Billboard charting.

But as much as some independent music fans might want celebrate the demise of Billboard and other legacy music media institutions, these companies offer critical infrastructure that the integrity of an increasingly corrupt and paid-for music industry depends on. This could be especially imperative as AI continues increase its market share, and threatens to flood and dominate the music space in 2026.

Afraid of “gatekeeping” accusations, Billboard seems content with AI encroaching onto its charts without the company in any way addressing it directly at the moment. Billboard could disallow AI songs and albums from being eligible on the charts. They could put AI music on separate charts that measure AI music consumption specifically. Or at the least, they could make sure AI songs are clearly disclosed on the chart as being AI-generated—a policy it seems unclear if they’re committed to at the moment.

The AI music company Suno that is at the heart of the explosion of AI songs. It is currently advertising that you could make a song, and it could end up on the charts, while at the same time advertising that A&R reps at labels are watching Suno activity more than the Billboard charts. Suno seems to be understanding the importance (or lack thereof) of Billboard‘s charts more than Billboard does. Suno is basically calling the media company out, while also leveraging Billboard‘s clout to promote themselves.


Meanwhile, instead of meeting this crisis head on, Billboard seems content to simply “discuss” the matter of AI songs charting on their charts, and paying lip service to accountability, and protecting human creators. Recently the publication released a 25-minute discussion asking “Are AI Artists Taking Chart Spots From Human Creators?”

The answer to that question is empirically “yes.” There is no other way to answer that question that isn’t false. The only reason Billboard frames this matter as a question is because they’re not willing to acknowledge the only correct answer. We saw this when an AI-generated song topped Billboard‘s Country Digital Song Sales chart.

Billboard‘s discussion involved Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, who is the president and CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) who was advocating for human creators. It also involved Romel Murphy, who is the founder of Daidream, and manages the AI artist Xania Monet who uses Suno to create her music, and recently signed a multi-million-dollar label deal.

Similar to what Saving Country Music has been saying since the beginning of AI music entering the commercial marketplace, Willie Stiggers of the BMAC strongly advocated for proper labeling of AI tracks if nothing else.

“I don’t feel that AI-generated artists should be on the same charts as human beings. I think that very similar to the way you put Parental Advisory stickers on albums … the same sort of transparency should be taking place as it relates to AI-generated artists. I think a lot of people don’t even know that they’re listening to [AI] … We have to take care of the creative community that’s taken care of us since the inception of time.”

Xania Monet’s manager Romel Murphy cited how iHeartMedia made a decision to not include any AI-generated music on their radio stations and podcasts as a form of discrimination against AI music.

“You’re gatekeeping,” Murphy accused. “She’s got 1.6 million fans listening to that song a week, and you made the decision, because you’re at the top of the food chain of your company, you made the decision to shut it down. So now you’re gatekeeping the fans.”

But fans are still able to consume whatever they wish, just as radio stations or networks should be allowed to play whatever they wish. If anyone is a victim of “gatekeeping” in this scenario, it’s human creators who are being overshadowed on charts by AI songs and “artists.”

Similar to the claims that Beyoncé was the victim of “gatekeeping” in country music as her albums and songs appeared at the top of all of Billboard‘s country charts and she made millions of dollars, Xania Monet is being couched as a victim as she signs multi-million-dollar label deals, and makes tons of revenue off of AI-generated music. Beyoncé is a billionaire, but somehow is a victim as many independent country artists can’t even make enough money to sustain a career.

Once again, Suno is advertising how you could use their service to sign multi-million-dollar recording contracts when so many human creators out there who’ve spent years or decades perfecting their craft are left on the outside looking in.


As Willie Stiggers of the BMAC went on to say, “The creative community, especially the Black creative community have given so much to society from the inception of time, and have received so little in terms of compensation, it terms of ownership. And for me, I’m always out to protect that. And we have to fix that. And we as a people should never get so far away from the human connection. And when you have non-humans competing in charts with humans, we are furthering that disconnect between humanity.”

For Billboard and other entities, the music calendar ends in November, and December/early January is the time to retool for the next year. This is the time when Billboard is changing their ratio for how ad-supported songs are weighted in the charts, and when YouTube is pulling out of reporting to Billboard.

This should also be the time for Billboard to take a very hard and close assessment to how it handles AI songs on the charts moving forward. At the absolute least, the company should make sure all songs with 50% or more participation via AI are disclosed, or that human-certified tracks are highlighted. Deezer’s AI Detection Tool could be used to assist with this. But for now, AI songs should populate their own charts, at least until we can determine just how disruptive or catastrophic this AI phenomenon might or might not be to music.

It’s not AI creators who will be the victims of “gatekeeping.” It will be the human creators who’ve spent their entire lives perfecting their craft, honing their skills, and dreaming of making it in music since they were little kids. They will be the ones who are summarily locked out as commercially-driven and talent-bereft opportunists with AI prompts infiltrate and eventually dominate the music charts, and music in general.

It won’t just be human musicians who are severely hurt in this situation. It will be Billboard as others who continue to lose public trust and cultural relevancy as they increasingly struggle to offer the clarity and transparency the music industry needs to remain credible in the minds of an increasingly skeptical public.

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