Posted July 20, 20195 yr According to James Masterton in his weekly Chart Watch UK column a chart rule change happened last week. Rules And Regulations The rules governing the singles chart are in a constant state of evolution, a necessity of adapting to the similarly fast-paced evolution of the streaming market and as the industry learns just how best to track online plays as a measure of popularity. The new July 2019 chart rules appeared last week with little pre-fanfare, containing nothing as revolutionary as the ACR rule of 2017 and the addition of YouTube streams in 2018. But there was one subtle change which may well have a far-reaching impact in weeks to come. As originally codified, it was possible for an ACR relegated single to have its streaming conversion reset, simply by dint of its streams increasing by more than 50% of the market. This rule was originally designed to make it possible for tracks enjoying spontaneous surges of interest to take their place on the charts, but this was rendered more or less obsolete by a subsequent tweak which made this only applicable to tracks less than three years from release. It had become clear that the bar for a reset was simply too high. So the Official Charts Company last week lowered it by half, meaning it now only takes a 25% + market increase in streams for a single to jump out of the relegation zone. So we may well be about to see chart jumps similar to that experienced this week by Dave with Location. Originally a cut from the rapper's Psychodrama album, the track has already enjoyed an extended chart run, peaking at Number 6 back in April during what turned out to be a six week run inside the Top 10. Five weeks ago that run began to draw to a close, the single dropping 12-36 following an ACR relegation, since when it has hovered around the bottom end of the Top 40. As if out of nowhere, however, this week the track is back. Location rockets 38-13 to effectively rebound to exactly where it was before ACR kicked in. All this in the same week the track finally gained an official video to make it "officially" a single release. As to what qualified it for the reset, I confess I'm not entirely sure. It seems unlikely to have been at the request of the label, by rule such "manual resets" are still only permitted for tracks outside the Top 100. Yet without being able to see the numbers, I cannot discern any surge on last week's streaming chart that would have theoretically qualified Ladbroke Grove for the 25% rule. So for the moment, we are into the realms of guesswork here. https://chart-watch.uk/index.php/week-ending-july-25th-2019 If this rule change has happened the chart rule would now look something like: i) Automatic Reset – a track within the Top 100 on ACR and which is within 3 years of release can automatically return to SCR if it’s combined sales and stream total increases by 25 percentage points greater than the market change week on week. For example, a track with a week on week variance of +14%, in a week where market variance is -11%, would be automatically reset. I guess this means that 'I Don't care' will be back on SCR next week and possibly back to number 1 or 2... Edited July 20, 20195 yr by Robbie
July 20, 20195 yr Location was almost definitely a manual reset with the promise of the video dropping that week (and it did), because it definitely did not get a 25% increase! I Don't Care won't qualify because it wasn't in the chart - if it's starred out, it doesn't count, basically. Not really sure how I feel about this, but even 25% boosts are pretty rare - the Bieber remix of bad guy may have only just pushed it to a reset (it was just over 25% on Thursday's midweeks, no idea what it finished on) so it seems fair but equally don't think it should be so easy for a reset, we're going to see loads of resets next January after the Christmas songs drop and the new year effect begins :lol:
July 20, 20195 yr Oh wow, Bad Guy might have reached 25% and could return into the top ten thanks to Justin Bieber? :o
July 20, 20195 yr Author Location was almost definitely a manual reset with the promise of the video dropping that week (and it did), because it definitely did not get a 25% increase! I Don't Care won't qualify because it wasn't in the chart - if it's starred out, it doesn't count, basically. Not really sure how I feel about this, but even 25% boosts are pretty rare - the Bieber remix of bad guy may have only just pushed it to a reset (it was just over 25% on Thursday's midweeks, no idea what it finished on) so it seems fair but equally don't think it should be so easy for a reset, we're going to see loads of resets next January after the Christmas songs drop and the new year effect begins :lol:I didn't know that if a track is starred out it can't qualify for an automatic reset. At least that will save the OCC some embarrassment then.
July 20, 20195 yr I’m so confused by the charts, ever changing rules, resets, double counting, ACR, track rules etc., Totally confusing and has ruined the fun of the charts and being a chart geek.
July 20, 20195 yr This is impossible to keep up with and it’s just reached the point where a “sale” is an abstract concept with little basis on reality!
July 20, 20195 yr Author This is impossible to keep up with and it’s just reached the point where a “sale” is an abstract concept with little basis on reality!The OCC should just drop the concept of a sale and simply call them "chart points". A sale ratio which can be changed on the whim of the Chart Supervisory Committee is not a sale at all. At least Billboard doesn't pretend that streams (and airplay) are somehow the equivalent of a sale by calling it that. They simply convert sales, streams and airplay into chart points.
July 20, 20195 yr Go back to normal sales and nothing else even if it is low sales its more of a true reflection. Give streaming its own chart but dont count it in the main chart as its totally false. Nobody goes out and buy a copy of Ed Sheeran each week in order to get one sale do they
July 20, 20195 yr Go back to normal sales and nothing else even if it is low sales its more of a true reflection. Give streaming its own chart but dont count it in the main chart as its totally false. Nobody goes out and buy a copy of Ed Sheeran each week in order to get one sale do they I think it’s a bit too late for that now.
July 20, 20195 yr Author I think it’s a bit too late for that now.Indeed. Norway, Sweden, Denmark etc have already ditched sales from their Singles chart and just use streams. Though those Nordic / Scandinavian countries never had downloads take off in the way they did in the UK so it was no big deal dropping paid for sales from their charts.
July 21, 20195 yr the Uk can keep them but they are almost insignificant Beautiful People did 5k on downloads last week, thats barely 700 copies a day
July 21, 20195 yr The charts really don’t mean anything anymore. I remember the announcement in 2007 that said all download sales would count and loving it because it meant the silly rules that had been put in place wouldn’t be effecting anymore. Now we have rule changes on what feels like an almost monthly basis that have made the chart so superficial it doesn’t really mean anything. People wanted steaming to count because sales began to fall and then people wanted to change up ratios because the chart changed and then people wanted songs starred out because some artists were dominated and now that’s unfair because chart runs are weird. People don’t know what they want. I knew adding streaming would make the chart a mess but it’s the fact that they’ve messed it all around constantly over the past five years that’s lead me to lose almost all interest in the charts.
July 21, 20195 yr the one thing the US got right is that they stopped calling it sales the minute they added streams
July 21, 20195 yr Does it really matter what it's called? Sales, points, it's all the same thing really no matter what the title is.
July 21, 20195 yr Despite dwindling numbers there will always be people that will prefer to buy music so sales will still always be a factor and Musicweek at the very least will keep the sales data within their reports. I think the reason we have these constant changes and this is something which I didn't really think about before with my suggestions as to what the OCC should do is that the OCC can only work with the data they're given. As far as I know at the very least Spotify, Apple Music etc. just give them the data of 'This is how many streams each song got from premium subscribers and these are the streams from free members or from free trials' so they can only work with what they have to keep everything relevant while also making it interesting and streaming isn't like the a physical or a download where one person buy it = one sale and that's it. It looks like streaming is here to stay now and there is an extremely competitive market unlike those years where we could look at the iTunes chart and pretty know what the chart will look like most of the time so there will still be a need for an official chart to unify it all and see what the most popular songs and albums are across all platforms but I think OCC rule changes will be something we will probably have to get used to every summer if things keep going in this direction :lol: But you never I guess, would anyone here have said iTunes would be insignificant by now in 2012/13?
July 21, 20195 yr I’d say 2012-13 is when it became clear to me streaming was soon going to be the dominant form of music consumption. ever since the spotify boom sales were only ever going to trend downwards. it certainly makes the OCC’s job a lot harder anyway hence the constant changing of the rules but they have to adapt to modern times. I just don’t fully agree with the methods they’ve used to try and make the chart more interesting.
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