What do the Charts Do and Why are they Important?

List best-selling singles, albums, videos, downloads Indication of sales and success Give status to the artist Act as a barometer of popularity Success breeds success an entry into the official top 20 will lead to more sales Gain access to radio play lists Create a battle of the bands to number one an additional marketing tool

Like record companies, are the charts another means of controlling the audience? Are we influenced by what is in the charts? Do the charts help us to be independent in our choices or not? Are they trying to guide us what to listen to or are they simply giving us interesting information?

The Official Charts Company

The Official Charts are a central part of British popular culture. We all remember the number 1s from when we were first learning about and loving music. We all remember listening to the charts when they were announced on Radio One and watching the countdown on Top Of The Pops. The rest of the world has also always paid attention to the UK charts, which have reflected music tastes in the most influential music nation on the planet for almost 60 years. The guardians of these charts is the Official Charts Company, a company formed in the late 80s to manage the future development of the charts in the fast-moving entertainment industry, as well as to control rights to the charts going back to 1960. Tthe Official Charts Company is a joint venture between two key trade associations the BPI (The British Recorded Music Industry) and ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association). It is responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK's official music and video charts. These charts are based on a survey across a panel of retailers, accounting for 99% of all singles sold, 98% of all albums and over 90% of all video. The fast, accurate data used to compile these charts is also made available to music and video industry professionals to assess the progress of their releases, analyse the effectiveness of advertising campaigns across the country and assess the best way of promoting their products. Among the many media licensees of the Official Charts is the BBC for whom our charts are the centre-piece of Radio One's Official Charts Show, the UK's most popular national radio show, which is broadcast every Sunday afternoon from 4pm to 7pm and unveils each week's Number One, just minutes before 7pm. The chart is also broadcast across the globe, including the BBCs World Service Network, which can boast more than 120m listeners throughout the world.

BPI (The British Recorded Music Industry)

The BPI is the British record industry's trade association. The BPI represents thousands of British record companies throughout the UK, providing many services, including copyright protection & legal expertise, government lobbying, conducting research, statistics, export advice, practical support 1

at trade fairs, specialist media briefings, essential business advice, education and training programmes and the Brit Awards. www.bpi.co.uk

ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association)

ERA is a UK trade organisation formed to act as a forum for the retail and wholesale sectors of the music, video, DVD and multimedia products industry. Then named BARD (British Association of Record Dealers), it was formed in 1988 by a group of music retailers - independents, multiples and wholesalers - to represent operators of record shops in their dialogue with the UK's record companies. www.eraltd.org

The Charts We Compile

Best known for the Official Singles Chart and the Official Artist Albums Chart, the Official Charts Company actually compiles more than 50 charts of different shapes, sizes and flavours. Most notably, we compile charts for the home entertainment industry, including the weekly DVD and Blu-ray charts. But our other charts span more than two dozen genres, many different formats, regional charts (all across both music and video) and a constantly expanding list of new charts, devised to reflect new music tastes and the new ways in which consumers access music and video - including charts covering streaming, music subscription services and film and TV downloads. Here is an outline of some of the many charts currently compiled by the Official Charts Company:

Main Music Charts

* Singles * Artist Albums * Compilation Albums * Singles Downloads * Albums Downloads * Subscription Plays * Hit40UK

* Asian (Singles) * World (Albums)

Main Video Charts

* All Video Chart * DVD Chart * Blu-ray Chart

Music Genre Charts

* Dance (Singles & Albums) * Indie (Singles & Albums) * Rock (Singles & Albums) * Urban (Singles & Albums) * Classical:- Combined Classical (Albums) - Specialist Classical - Classical Artist (Albums) - Classical Compilations & Soundtracks (Albums) * Jazz & Blues (Albums) * Country Artist (Albums) * Country Artist Compilations (Albums) 2

Video Genre Charts

* Film Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * TV Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Childrens Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Sport/Health/Fitness Video (DVD) * Music Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Special Interest Video (DVD)

Format Charts
* Vinyl * CD * Digital * DVD * Blu-ray

Custom Charts
We also compile charts for a range of media clients based on their specification and utilising the entire Official Charts database to produce a variety of tailor made listings for different audiences.

Where the Official Charts appear

The Official Charts appear in a wide range of media across the nation. In addition to being featured on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, MTV and Music Week, our charts appear on Classic FM, and in approximately 80% of the national daily newspapers. We are also working continuously to make the charts and chart news accessible to music fans via a range of additional platforms, including mobile, apps, social media and video streaming services. For licencing enquiries please contact the commercial department on +44 (0)20 7620 7450 Our commercial partners include:

Newspapers
Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Star, Independent, The Sun.

Magazines
Music Week, Billboard (USA), Music Network (Australia), Radio Magazine, DVD & Blu-ray Review, Cue Entertainment, Gramophone, Songlines.

TV
MTV, VH1, VIVA, 4Music, The Box, Smash Hits.

Radio
BBC Radio1, BBC Radio 2, BBC 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, Classic FM.

Web
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1, www.bbc.co.uk/radio2, www.hmv.com, www.thesun.co.uk, www.7digital.com, www.muzu.tv.

Mobile
The Official Charts iPhone app is available to download from the iTunes app store. For charts on the move, access the Official source!

BBC Radio 1
The Radio 1 Official Chart Show is one of the nations most popular radio programmes, broadcast every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm. Hosted by Reggie Yates and featuring The Top 40 rundown with guest appearances by artists looking to celebrate their new chart success.

Music Week
Music Week is the UK music industrys leading trade publication. The magazine, in its various guises has been publishing the UKs official charts for nearly 60 years.

MTV
MTV, the leading music channel family, broadcasts a range of Official Charts, including the Official Singles Chart, the Official Albums Chart, Official Download Chart and much more. The Official Singles Chart offers the first chance to see all of the videos of the UKs biggest selling singles, every Monday afternoon from 4pm to 7.30pm.

Retail Video Charts

* All Video Chart * Blu-ray Chart * DVD Chart

Video Genre Charts

* Film Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * TV Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Childrens Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Sport/Health/Fitness Video (DVD) * Music Video (DVD & Blu-ray) * Special Interest Video (DVD)

Other Music Charts

* Big Beat * Hot40 Chart * Asian Download Chart * World Music Chart * Classic FM Chart * 1Xtra Chart

Twitter
www.twitter.com/officialcharts

Facebook
www.facebook.com/officialcharts

FAQs
Who are the Official Charts Company?
The Official Charts Company was formed to manage the future development of the charts and control rights to the UK's historic charts. It is a joint venture between two key trade associations the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) and ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association) and is responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK's official music and video charts. 4

Which charts do the Official Charts Company compile?

The best known charts which we compile are the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Charts, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, we compile the Official Video Chart for the home video industry and dozens of genre charts, covering areas such as rock, jazz, classical, dance and many more - all of them based on real, genuine sales.

What is different about the Official Charts?

The Official Charts are unique because they reflect real sales to British consumers, of audio and video releases across a wide range of retailers - not just one retailer, but all significant retailers. In essence, they are the only charts accurately reflecting what people in the UK are buying.

How do you create the charts?

The vast array of retailers supplying data provide us with information of all the sales they have made on a daily basis. These files are collated every day by our partner company Millward Brown - one of the world's most respected market research companies - and matched against databases of products (music and video) held by Millward Brown. The results of this process are verified throughout the week to ensure there are no errors in the data, before the final charts are published on Sunday. The end of week charts reflect all sales which have been reported from 00.01 Sunday, through to midnight Saturday.

Where do you collect sales from?

The simple answer is all significant retailers. These retailers span independent stores, high street chains, supermarkets, internet mail order and download services. As a result, we estimate that we capture around 99% of all singles sold, 98% of all albums and over 90% of all videos/DVDs.

Do you count downloads?

Yes, we have counted music downloads since 2004, within a couple of months of iTunes launching in the UK, when digital music was still a tiny proportion of all music sales.

What about streaming?

At the moment, streaming isn't counted towards the charts. In Spring 2009, the Official Charts Company began gathering streaming data. This is not being used in any charts straight away though it is gathered simply for industry use, to assess the importance and power of streaming. But this is expected to be the first step towards streaming contributing towards some charts one day. The first stage will be the development of a standalone Official Streaming Chart. Before any streaming information is included in what have traditionally been sales charts, it will be subject to significant market research and consultation, taking into account the views of consumers and industry professionals. This information taken directly from http://www.officialcharts.com 5