UK singles chart to include YouTube video views for the first time

The UK singles chart is getting another overhaul to include music video streams and downloads for the first time.

While unofficial videos or other user-generated content will not count towards artist streams - official videos played on YouTube, Apple, Tidal and Spotify will.

The new rules will kick in on Friday 29 June and have been approved by record labels and BBC Radio 1, which broadcasts the chart each Friday.

In 2017 the music industry saw several records in streaming and YouTube views smashed: "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee became the most-watched YouTube video in history, while Dua Lipa had the most=watched video by a British woman that year.

Charts' chief executive Martin Talbot told the BBC: "The way that music fans are consuming music is changing by the month.

"It seems anachronistic to be saying 'we're only going to count the song' when it also has a video attached to it."

He also pointed out that big-budget videos won't necessarily reap the benefits of the new chart rules, commenting: "This isn't going to be a handbrake turn... we're not going to suddenly see dozens of songs in the Top 20 that weren't there before."

The most-watched videos in the UK

In a test, songs with viral videos only enjoyed a small boost to their chart position.

Several artists and video producers have already welcomed the move, with pop singer Dua Lipa noting how her breakout video for "New Rules" was "really important to me in my career" while Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander - who is releasing a video for every song on the band's upcoming album Palo Santo - said many fans consider a video as an intrinsic part of a song: "The fact they'll be considered now for the charts is a good thing," he said.