Diddy Gets Billboard to Make the R&B Charts Public For the First Time Ever [Photos]

He tweeted on Thursday (Aug. 25) to the official Twitter account of Billboard, thanking them for making this change public. “Thank you for hearing me out and making the charts public. This is just a small step toward a bigger win for R&B,” he wrote.

He continued, “The combined chart plays a major role in dictating the sound of Black music and takes the real creative freedom away from the artists.”

Diddy said to R&B artists that this is a victory for the culture. “For any R&B artist with dreams if being a superstar, this small win is about leveling the playing field and making progress to advance a cornerstone of our culture,” he said.

In response to a tweet from Diddy asking why hip hop and R&B competed on the same chart, Billboard explained it was for consumption tracking and other reasons. “@Diddy Good question — and thanks for sharing your perspective with us in our conversations this week,” the tweet read. “Our combined R&B/hip-hop charts date back decades, measuring consumption and popularity while celebrating the artists like you who create music and make history in both worlds.”

Billboard added, “But Billboard also publishes an array of separate charts for both genres, which we’ve made free for everyone for now so you can check them out.”