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[Mart!n]

Chart regulators have overhauled the rules allowing downloads into the main singles chart, while letting digital sales count towards the artist albums chart for the first time.

At present downloads can only count towards the combined singles chart if there is an equivalent physical format available. However, the Chart Supervisory Committee (CSC) has agreed that, from the first full week of March, digital sales will be included one week before a release’s physical version goes on sale.

The inclusion of downloads has created division between labels, who largely want all digital sales incorporated into the main chart, and high street retailers, who are concerned they will end up with gaps in their chart walls if digital-only releases are allowed in. Under this planned change, which will start with releases out on March 6, this will not happen as any digital-only releases will only enter the chart on the night immediately before they then go on sale physically.

“People felt, whether labels or retailers, that it was a step in the right direction at the right time in the market,� says the Official Charts Company chart director Omar Maskatiya who also chairs the Charts Supervisory Committee. However, he anticipates the rule will be subject to regular review.

In what is seen as a further compromise to retailers, the CSC has also brought in a rule which means labels must give a week’s notice to stores if they plan to delete the physical version of a single. Following any such deletion, the track will then two weeks later be disqualified from the chart, bringing to an end what has recently been a pattern of tracks staying in the Top 75 for months solely on digital sales.

“There are a number of releases that are not charting as high as previously because of tracks hanging around, so this will free up chart spaces,� says Maskatiya.

The CSC has also agreed to allow digital album sales into the chart for the first time, reflecting the growing digital albums market. This change is expected to happen around the end of March.

Maskatiya says, “We’ve been looking at the percentage digital albums make up of the market and it’s reached roughly 2% of the album market in any week and is improving all the time.�