Ten music companies — including the three majors, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music — have jointly proposed four principles governing when songs that use artificial intelligence should be eligible for music charts.

The proposal, reported by Billboard on 29 July 2026, also carries the signatures of HYBE, Believe, Concord, Mom+Pop Music, Partisan Records, Dirty Hit and Glassnote Records. Together, the group is asking charting organisations to adopt a consistent test for AI-using tracks before they count toward rankings like the Billboard Hot 100 or the Official Charts.

The four guidelines are straightforward. The AI platform used must be authorised — meaning the person whose voice or work is involved has given permission. The song must comply with copyright, related rights and personality rights, the legal protections covering an artist's voice, image and creative output. AI use must be clearly communicated and labelled. And the track must be primarily human-created, with no indication of chart manipulation or artificial streaming, the practice of using bots or paid playlists to inflate play counts.

Fully AI-generated songs — those created entirely by AI with no meaningful human contribution — would be excluded from chart eligibility altogether under the proposal. That exclusion ties into a separate, earlier effort: a coalition including IFPI, RIAA, A2IM, WIN, IMPALA, the Recording Academy (the Grammys), SAG-AFTRA and the Human Artistry Campaign had previously proposed a voluntary system for tagging AI-generated and AI-assisted songs on streaming services. The labels' new chart-eligibility principles would use that tagging framework as a reference point, so that anything labelled "AI-generated" would be automatically barred from charts.

Neither the chart-eligibility principles nor the earlier tagging system has been formally adopted by any streaming service or charting organisation, including Billboard's own charts. A representative for Billboard declined to comment on the proposal as of press time, according to Billboard.

Streaming platforms have already been moving on AI disclosure, if not on chart eligibility. Deezer began tracking AI-generated songs in 2025 and has claimed that up to 50% of daily uploads to its service are fully AI-generated — a figure disputed by sources who say Deezer's detection system also flagged songs that merely used AI assistance. Spotify announced its own AI-disclosure system in April 2026, and Apple Music introduced mandatory "Transparency Tags" for AI use in March 2026.

Listener sentiment may give the labels some leverage. A Luminate report found that 42% of respondents said they are less interested in listening to songs they learn were created with generative AI.

The proposal also arrives after a period of litigation and settlement between the majors and AI music platforms. The RIAA, UMG, WMG and Sony Music filed lawsuits against AI music companies Suno and Udio in 2024, alleging copyright infringement. UMG and Udio reached a settlement in October 2025 that includes licensing agreements covering UMG's recorded music and publishing catalogues, according to Reuters. WMG separately settled with both Udio and Suno. Warner Music Group's Q2 fiscal 2026 results, reported in May, noted that its partnership with Sureel AI and Symphonic Distribution was already generating "Fair AI" licensing revenue — an indication that some labels see commercial upside in authorised AI use even as they push to exclude unauthorised tracks from charts.

For now, the principles are a proposal, not a rule. Whether Billboard, the Official Charts Company or other chart compilers adopt them will determine whether a song built partly by AI can climb the same rankings as one built entirely by human hands.