In a bid to make inroads into the Arabic music industry, YouTube has unveiled a new collection of charts tailored specifically for the region. The charts will help to showcase the most popular Arabic music content and provide data on how the intended audience responds to new releases.
YouTube Charts is the streaming platform’s newest idea to give upcoming and established artists, especially those from the Middle East an avenue to put the spotlight on their art and interact with their intended audience.
YouTube Charts to cover top music lists
YouTube Charts will be made of four unique lists displaying the top 100 songs, artists, music videos. It also covers a list of top 20 trending releases. The collection will be updated on a weekly basis. There are also plans to offer an innovative way of keeping track of how releases are being discovered by the fans.
YouTube has long established itself as an important avenue for mainstream and upcoming artists from the Arab world to launch their music. YouTube’s own numbers show that the growth in popularity has been very good. Between the years 2017 and 2021, the number of channels with more than a million subscribers in the region has grown from 18 to 170.
YouTube has had such a huge impact on the music industry in the Middle East. Artists have enjoyed a much greater license to experiment in ways of production and exposure, using music videos to promote their music. Engagement with fans through different features has also drastically improved.
YouTube Charts to support upcoming music acts
The head of operations for YouTube in the Middle East says the intent of this new venture is that the addition of YouTube Charts to the already established portfolio of YouTube Music and YouTube Premium will aid the riding and upcoming music acts as well as the major players to highlight more of their releases.
In detail, YouTube Charts will be made up of a set of four charts, each with specific data to highlight about the state of the music scene for the week. It will also be made available for access through YouTube Music, and also on the website charts.youtube.com.
The four charts are described as follows:
The Top 100 Songs will show the most played songs, and will include official music videos, lyrics videos and other user-generated content.
The Top 100 Artists chart will be a list of the most played artists.
All three Top 100 lists will be updated every Sunday.
The Top 20 Trending category will show what the latest and hottest trends at the time are, and will offer a clearer understanding of how audiences connect with new releases.
YouTube created one of the most comprehensive platforms for Arabic music when it launched YouTube Music and YouTube Premium for the Middle East and North Africa in 2019. YouTube Charts shows YouTube is continuing its efforts to highlight music and artists from the region.
