Back in February we reported that the U.K. top-40 music chart would soon incorporate online streams into its analysis of song rankings. Unknown at the time was when the addition of streams would begin, and what the stream sources would be.
Both questions are answered today with the announcement that the U.K.’s top-40 list, compiled by the Official Charts Company, will be informed by data from Spotify, Deezer, Napster (Rhapsody’s non-U.S. music-service brand), Xbox Music, Music Unlimited, and Rara, starting with the list published on Sunday, July 6.
The change will bring Britain’s pop charts closer to parity with Billboard’s system in the U.S. The Billboard Hot 100 chart is compiled from sales, audio streams, and music videos plays.
The last time a new source of music-consumption data was added to the U.K. top-40 was in 2005, when music downloads were added to the mix.
Martin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company, noted rapid growth of streaming, saying that there have been nine tracks which have streamed over a million times in a single week, so far this year, compared to only two tracks in 2013.