UK charts face shakeup to combat the dominance of streaming
The Official Chart Company has announced plans to change the way streaming data is counted in the UK charts.
Currently 100 streams of a song are needed to equal one sale, but from next month it'll take 50% more - 150 streams - to hit that level. 11 different tracks have made number one so far in 2016 - this is considerably lower than the 42 in 2014, or even the 26 last year.
This move is being made to try rebalance the formats as streaming takes hold as one of our preferred means of music consumption.
Chief chart overseer Martin Talbot tells CMU: “It is testament to the rapidly changing nature of music consumption in the UK - and the huge shift we are seeing towards streaming - that we are updating the way we measure the contribution of streams to the make-up of the official charts as quickly as we are. Streaming is growing exponentially and the weighting we use to reflect its impact will inevitably keep evolving with it.”
In 2016 Drake has ostensibly been the biggest benefactor of the current rules, spending a huge 15 weeks atop the UK Top 40. It was today revealed that Drake's megahit is the first song to be streamed a billion times on Spotify.
- Mahalia shares self-love anthem, “Life Size”
- Jake Isaac announces new album, BENJAMIN
- BABii announces third album, DareDeviil2000
- Poppy Ajudha sings of queer love on "Girl Next Door"
- Jack White announced as new headliner for Øya Festival 2024
- Watch the official trailer for blur: Live at Wembley Stadium
- Gwen Stefani and Anderson .Paak link up for official song of the Olympics, "Hello World"
Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday
![Porter Robinson Smile cover](https://best-fit.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/albums/Porter-Robinson-Smile-cover.png?w=600&h=600&q=100&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1720091381&s=10bda02ddceec215d8a7991b28b1bf58)
Porter Robinson
Smile! :D
![Ice Spice Y2 K cover](https://best-fit.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/albums/Ice-Spice-Y2K-cover.jpg?w=600&h=600&q=100&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1721308157&s=803772a1bd528f391e48f455ddbd1dbb)
Ice Spice
Y2K
![Cults TO THE GHOSTS cover](https://best-fit.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/albums/Cults-TO-THE-GHOSTS-cover.jpg?w=600&h=600&q=100&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1721308477&s=ed9ee8eaeff6e677e9c1782831061750)
Cults
To The Ghosts
![Abbie Ozard Everything Still Worries Me cover](https://best-fit.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/albums/Abbie-Ozard-Everything-Still-Worries-Me-cover.jpg?w=600&h=600&q=100&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1720091178&s=c87c1cc5c5f50d761c135510e5a4d78f)