When was the last time you looked at the music charts, UK, Irish or otherwise?
Well as of today, the Irish charts are making an attempt to be more relevant by including more sources to gauge a more accurate chart than one based on just sales.
New chart info
- The new Irish chart, like the UK, it now includes streaming data from Spotify, Deezer, Xbox and Qobuz (what? who?).
- 100 streams count as a single purchase according to the new rules.
- Each track must be played for 30 seconds before counting as one stream.
- Ella Henderson’s ‘Ghost’ became the first number one of the new chart.
- GfK Chart-Track who put the chart together (see below how), say that streaming has TREBLED between July 2013 and July 2014 in Ireland.
- According to GfK Chart-Track, the Top 50 most streamed tracks in Ireland have been generating an average of approx. 1.4 million streams per week across all platforms.
What next?
- Google, Sony Unlimited and Rdio may join the chart metrics soon.
- No sign or mention of Youtube and Shazam as possible metrics right now.
- There are no plans to do the same for album charts.
How the chart works – a brief history
Pre 1992 the Irish Charts were based on ship-out figures. IRMA’s contract with GfK Chart-Track in 1992 was the first time the Official Charts would be based on consumer sales. Originally the music charts were based on physical products, downloads were added in July 2006 and now streams have been included. (Streams included at a ratio of 100:1 streams to sales). Charts are based on a panel of retailers comprised of physical stores (e.g. HMV, Golden Discs), download stores (e.g. iTunes, 7digital.ie), mobile phone operators (e.g. Nokia) and now streaming sites (e.g. Spotify). Data is collected electronically every night. Charts are compiled on a weekly basis from Friday-Thursday.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
100:1 seems a bit off, but it’ll be interesting to see how it shifts. I wonder will they provide a breakdown of what’s popular on streams vs purchases?
It’s about time they take the modern day listening landscape seriously.
This doesn’t suddenly make the chart “relevant”. As long as people buy tunes and there’s a chart collating that’s what makes it relevant. The top 40 chart is always going to skew towards big songs/big artists/songs that people want to buy in big numbers. Streaming has taken off for sure but if you look at the streaming charts on any big service it is generally the same songs that are doing well on sales charts/the radio not some blogger-friendly alternative universe of undiscovered music.
If anything streaming services will just make big songs even bigger and make the spots for other artists who don’t have a big push behind them. The fact that the first song to get a streaming number one here is a song that’s already been number one speaks volumes.
If the charts were to change in terms of genre/tunes that appear it’ll be down to radio play mainly. That’s why even between here and the UK Top 40 things can look so radically different.
Also, it’s so odd how this was on the Chart-Track website last week (http://www.chart-track.co.uk/?i=1910&s=1111 ) and they sort of did with no preamble whereas in the UK it got a decent bit of coverage. It’s like they’re just copying that model for here. I mean, it makes sense because streaming is taking off and changing how people access their songs. There have been some pieces on how streaming isn’t all good. This one notes how the use of streaming IS different to a sale (http://www.thismustbepop.com/2014/07/10/how-will-streaming-affect-the-uk-singles-chart/ ) and Noisey pointed out that it’ll make it harder for certain genres to climb (http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/winners-and-losers-first-streaming-chart-uktop40-ariana-grande) (They also had someone who works for a grime label point out that streaming isn’t some kind of win-win http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/spotify-grime-uk-top-40)
It’ll be interesting if this does shakes things up here in a different way but I’d wager the pop geeks like me who actually are sad enough to read Chart-Track every week (it’s weird. I know) will keep doing so and the majority of music journalists who don’t care for pop will go back to not paying attention and (wrongly) assuming everyone else has.
I’d say you’re right Conor. It’s not going to change things in the main with the exception of the odd anomaly.
We could do with a new music chart really.
I do think it’s more relevant – the purpose of the chart is to accurately reflect what people are listening to, It shouldn’t just be sales.
Interesting links too Conor. Thanks for that.
What do you mean by a new chart though? Taking in different genres? A chart for stuff trending online? There’s plenty of metrics for that already, I think the main overall Top 40 “here’s what is most popular” chart is a pretty established thing.
The sales things has been an ongoing back and forth for chart companies I’m sure. In the US it’s vastly different with radio play, streaming, downloads and even online streams from YouTube (The Harlem Shake viral video craze happened just as the rules changed in the US and it sent that song to number 1). In some ways it’s more accurate but I also think the purity of “I like this song enough to pay for it” is a pretty decent way of getting an idea of what is doing well. It’s not really in line with the general “music should be free/close to free” we’re accustomed to now though. (I do always think “What we actually listen to” vs “what people wanted to buy of a week” is so hard to collate though.)
it’s funny this is being announced properly by Chart Track in a week when the US albums chart hit a record low for sales. Sia was able to get a number one album with just 55,000 sales:
From Billboard “The week’s 4.05 million haul is the smallest weekly sum for album sales since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. Weekly album sales volume has been below 5 million for the past 12 consecutive weeks.” http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6157709/sia-1000-forms-of-fear-billboard-200-soundscan-chandelier
So, streaming does feel like a relevant addition but I still think the charts have a place with/without and that it’s a shame that a sale is harder for people actually get (given how much more money it gets for an artist compared to stream) as we change how we listen to songs.
I mean a chart specifically for new music. I know there’s somethings out there already but an Irish new music one would be interesting to see, even if it wasn’t actually used.
I would wager the likes of Hype Machine cater to that already but you should talk to ChartTrack about doing one! (Seriously)