Press release from The Official Charts Company:
The Official Singles Chart is set to include audio streams for the first time from next month (July, 2014), the Official Charts Company has confirmed.
The move, supported by the UK music industry, follows an explosion in streaming services with the total number of weekly audio streams selected by music fans growing from 100 million a week in January, 2013 to 200 million a week in January, 2014, to up to 260 million currently.
Daft Punk’s Get Lucky became the first track to be streamed 1 million times in a week last spring, but 2014 has already seen nine tracks generate more than 1 million streams in a single week, including two tracks passing the 1.5 million weekly barrier – Rather Be by Clean Bandit and Waves by Mr Probz.
The move to include streams in the Official Singles Chart was made possible by the agreement of on-demand audio streaming services including Spotify, Deezer, Napster, O2 Tracks, Xbox Music, Sony’s Music Unlimited and rara (powered by Omnifone), all members of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), co-owners of the Official Charts Company, to supply weekly streaming data. To reflect the difference in weight between streaming and purchasing, 100 streams will count as equivalent to 1 single (download or physical single) in the chart compilation process.
Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot says, “Audio streaming has grown at an extraordinary rate over the past year – and the time is now right to take this important step. “The UK’s Official Singles Chart is culturally among the most important and influential in the world. We have been looking at this possibility for some time and now feel comfortable that our methodology is correct and that summer 2014 is the time that we should take this step.
“The Official Singles Chart is (and always has been) the most trusted and definitive measure of Britain’s music tastes. Just as it has evolved through the years to reflect the most popular music in the UK, from 12″ to 7”, vinyl to cassingles, CD singles to downloads, this is the latest stage of that progression – and will align the Official Singles Chart with the consumption habits of the future.”
To celebrate the historic new addition, Bastille were confirmed to have the UK’s most-streamed track of all time, with their hit Pompeii.
This evolution of the Official Singles Chart has broad support from many interest groups across the industry, across independent and major labels, physical and digital retailers, managers, artists, as well as key media partners of the Official Chart – BBC Radio 1, MTV, Music Week and many more.
The first Official Singles Chart Top 40 to incorporate streams will be unveiled from 4-7pm on Sunday, July 6 by BBC Radio 1.