The New York Times reported on Friday that Billboard has decided to change the rules that allow them to rank songs on its charts.

According to the NY Times, Billboard revealed three weeks ago that for ranking the songs among their genres, they will include online song sales as well as number of times that the song has been streamed online.

Until now, Billboard had only taken those things into account for its 'Hot 100' charts and the genre rankings had only been decided based on the number of times broadcast on the radio. 

The Times pointed out that such changes to rankings will expand to Hip Hop and R&B genres and said that this might be beneficial for singers who crossover into many different genres.

They used Psy's "Gangnam Style" as an example. They said that though many American media outlets do not recognize Psy as a rapper, Psy was #1 for 3 weeks on the Rap genre charts.

One NY-based Hip Hop program director said, "People don't seem Psy's music as rap. It's true that Billboard has a lot of influence but they can't make hip hop fans think that Psy's music is true rap."

Such situations are occuring in other genres like country charts with Taylor Swift topping the charts. Pop singer Rihanna is topping the R&B chart with her song, 'Diamonds.'

Many Hip Hop, Country and R&B fans are in opposition. They are now conducting a protest against such changes in rules and have gotten 600 signatures online.

However, Billboard seems to be strong in their stance.

Billboard's editor Bill Verde said, "It's necessary to reflect the way that music is being consumed. We can't just rely on the radio and have to take into account YouTube and video plays as well."