Hi friends, I've been wanting to make this for a while. Mostly because ever since 2013 this fanbase has had a disconnect and disdain with the changing streaming world. With our last major release Joanne, streaming was already the biggest form of music consumption and as we near the end of 2018 and will soon be the only form of music consumption as CD's and iTunes are both close to being a thing of the past. I wanted to emphasize the importance in paid streaming. ASIB OST cannot triumph over Twenty One Pilots on October 5th without every single one of you who do not stream or use free streaming accounts switching over. So before I get into some basic numbers for the US/Can, UK, and Germany (and some quick streaming facts about other countries like France, Italy, and Spain) I want to provide some info/resources on streaming. Streaming Services- Apple Music is the biggest paid streaming platform in North America with Spotify Premium closely trailing. Together they make up over 90% of the streaming market. - Apple Music and Spotify Premium are both only $4.99 / month for college students and $9.99 / month for a regular account. - What's amazing is Apple Music offers a free 3 MONTHS. That means if you sign up now you can stream free music from now until the beginning of December (or whenever you purchase it). The best part? These free Apple Music streams count as PAID STREAMS FOR THE BILLBOARD 200 CHART. Spotify Premium offers a similar trial but only for 30 days. - Here's a link to sign up for the free 3 months of Apple Music and free 30 days of Spotify Streaming Rules (United States) Important Info: - Ever since July 2018, Billboard has stopped using the 1,500 streams = 1 album sales rule on the Billboard 200. Now, 1,250 PAID streams = 1 album sale // 3,750 FREE streams = 1 album sale Steaming Rules (United Kingdom) Important info: Unlike the US which combines pure sales, Track Equivalent Albums, and Stream Equivalent Albums, the UK only counts pure sales and Stream Equivalent Albums. The UK really tries to avoid 1 or 2 hits making an album sell like crazy so they've adopted an interesting but super easy to follow system: Streaming Rules (Germany) Unlike the US and UK, Germany's albums aren't copy-based but revenue based. Still in terms of streaming revenue the album brings in, like the UK they take the Top 12 tracks EXCEPT the first 2. So they don't even average down the first 2 they just throw them out to avoid Drake levels of domination Streaming Rules (FR,IT,SP) France, Italy, and Spain exclude free streaming from their charts entirely and only take into account paid accounts for their album charts. Special Thanks to all the chartsters for supporting me in making this thread. Tagging is acting stupid right now so I can't tag anyone right now. But thanks Gypsy Life, ViviLittleM, Carre, OBEY, Andree, ARPiT, Thrasher, Bloody Grammys, ryanripley, ZiggyZigs, kinneyUnderYou and probably missing like 5 people or something.. Feel free to @ me and ask anything you want.