Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-8283081-20130614021519/@comment-3497690-20130614034641

Well, I'm not a mod, but I think I know why.

The important thing is, mylist numbers fluctuate, while view counts do not. Once something is viewed, it can't be unviewed, so the viewcount is a bit more "reliable" than the mylist count.

People add and remove things from their mylists all the time, because space (especially for non-premium members) is limited. The problems with basing popularity on mylists are that a.) it gives newer videos an unfair advantage over older ones which are more likely to have been removed from mylists to make room for newer videos, and b.) people/covers can and will fluctuate below any requirements that we set.

In theory, it's a good idea, but it requires an asinine amount of monitoring because utaite/covers can qualify, then suddenly not qualify a month or so later because their mylist counts went down. It's a lot simpler this way, imho.