Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

YouTube streaming data not coming to UK Top 40 any time soon, says OCC boss

By | Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013

Official Charts Company

The Official Charts Company will not be following Billboard’s lead in the US and adding YouTube streaming data to the UK Top 40 any time soon, the company’s CEO Martin Talbot has said. As previously reported, the compliers of the main Billboard track chart, who started counting streaming data last year, recently added YouTube stats into the mix too, resulting in the ‘Harlem Shake’ track being catapulted up to the number one spot.

But Talbot told BBC Newsbeat: “[Billboard’s] Hot 100 has never been a purely sales based chart, incorporating data such as radio airplay since the 50s. In contrast, the UK’s Official Singles Chart has been a purely sales based chart ever since it launched in 1952. With singles sales currently at an all-time high following nine years of continued year-by-year growth, there are currently no plans to incorporate streaming information in the UK”.

This echoes Talbot’s comments regards streaming date when he spoke to CMU last year on the singles chart’s 60th birthday. He said: “We are already collecting streaming information from audio services such as Spotify, Deezer and Napster among others. But, at the moment, with singles sales still booming, the time isn’t right at the moment to introduce streaming to the singles chart”.

He continued: “The reality is that the Official Streaming Chart is more languid than the Official Singles Chart (tracks move up and down at a much slower rate) and it also follows a week or two behind, as singles make an impact on the sales chart before they peak in terms of streams. It has, to an extent, been easier for a decision like this to be made in the US, where airplay has long since been part of the Billboard chart formula. But we have always prided ourselves on having a totally transparent chart based on sales and sales alone, pure and uncut”.



READ MORE ABOUT: | |