Apple Music Top 100 Charts — because streaming is the new billboard

Billboard's Hot 100. American Top 40. These are terms any music lover of any is instantly familiar with. And now there's a new one: Apple Music Top 100.

There's a Global Top 100 if you want to see what's currently ranking #1 in the world on Apple Music, as well as 115 regional Top 100 charts — one for each country in which Apple Music has a presence. They're all updated at 12am PST, every day and you can follow and stream any of the playlists and download them to listen to offline.

If you want to check out some of the new Top 100 playlists, here are the links:

It's an interesting move by Apple. Different top charts compose their rankings differently. In the old days, they were based on retail sales. Some now weigh sales versus streams, or free versus paid streams, to come up with arbitrary ratios that please whomever is winning at the moment.

Free trial aside, Apple Music is a paid service — and a rapidly growing one — and because Apple isn't conflating these new Top 100 lists with iTunes purchases, what they lack in universality they make up for legibility: Everyone knows exactly what they represent.

While the industry may enjoy yet another chart to climb and claim dominance of, what'll be interesting to see is how popular these new charts turn out to be with Apple Music subscribers.

In the age of streaming, where almost any song is available almost any time or place, will people still care what a majority of other subscribers are listening to any given day, either globally or on a regional basis?

Or do new technologies demand new opportunities? (I'm still waiting for the "top 10 songs people who listen to 95% of the same music I do, but I haven't discovered yet" playlist.)

Apple Music's new Top 100 Charts are all playlists accessible to subscribers from the Browse tab in the Top Charts section.

Available on iOS, macOS, and Android, if you're not yet a subscriber, you can try out a free 3-month trial any time and see what you think.

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Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.