Billboard‘s Global Charts will soon include music consumption numbers from the Chinese market for the first time.
Entertainment industry research firm Luminate has struck a deal with Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China’s biggest music streaming operator, that will enable Luminate to incorporate TME data into its Global statistics.
According to the announcement, as Billboard’s longstanding, official Charts partner, Luminate will incorporate data from TME in its weekly analysis and ranking used for the publication of Billboard Global Charts.
Luminate said it will track streaming and sales metrics from TME platforms, including QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and JOOX, through the TME Chart.
The data will be available to subscribers of Luminate’s CONNECT platform in the coming weeks, Luminate said. The addition of Chinese data into the Billboard Global Charts will be announced “at a later date.”
The partnership addresses “a long-standing gap in representation,” Luminate and TME said in a statement on Wednesday (November 5).
“This partnership marks a pivotal moment for the global music industry, underscoring Luminate’s unwavering commitment to providing the most accurate and comprehensive measurement of music activity worldwide,” Luminate CEO Rob Jonas said.
“As the industry’s most trusted source of streaming and sales data, our customers and partners expect as much information as possible to make the best business decisions, and we know how valuable it is for a market as large and influential as China to be represented in those insights.”
“This partnership marks a pivotal moment for the global music industry.”
Rob Jonas, Luminate
TC Pan, Group Vice President of TME and President of the Content Cooperation Department, described the partnership with Luminate as “a data-driven effort to establish a unified global content ecosystem.”
Added TC Pan: “China is one of the most dynamic music markets in the world, and through this partnership, all content on TME’s platforms — whether domestic or international — will participate in, and even help shape, global music trends.
“Moving forward, TME will continue to strengthen its content ecosystem, enabling more quality content to be discovered worldwide, realizing long-term value through a journey from ‘data connectivity’ to ‘ecosystem synergy’.”
TME operates a number of music streaming platforms in China, including QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and JOOX. As of Q2 2025, TME’s platforms had 553 million monthly active users and 124.4 million paying subscribers, of which some 15 million were subscribers to its ‘Super VIP’ tier for music superfans.
Luminate has been expanding its international partnerships in recent years, in an effort to develop a global database of music consumption. The research firm now tracks more than 60 different countries, with recent additions including markets in the Middle East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Thus far, Billboard’s only data on the Chinese music market was via the UNI Chart, which launched in early 2023 in partnership with TME.
“Our partnership with Luminate marks TME Chart as Billboard‘s first in-depth data partner in China, which demonstrates that its objectivity and professionalism have gained recognition from international authorities,” said Ryan Liang, TME’s Vice President of Corporate Development and Content Ecosystem.
“We see this partnership as an opportunity to further strengthen the TME Chart’s role as a bridge connecting Chinese music with the global market. By integrating China’s music data into the global chart ecosystem, we are dedicated to delivering Chinese music to a broader audience and enhancing its international recognition.”Music Business Worldwide
