Robbie

^ that said, number 3 on the Shazam chart is Hannah Wants & Chris Lorenzo with 'Rhymes'. Who is Hannah Wants and why does she want Chris Lorenzo?! Edit: I'm listening to the track now - it's quite good!

I'd say another two weeks then Fergie will be number 1. Fergie is number 1 on the Shazam chart which is usually a guarantee of at least a top 3 entry for a number 1 on that chart. To think 'Uptown Funk' was supposed to be released this week before its release date was brought forward - hopefully more releases will actually happen when people want to buy and stream the tracks rather than when the labels want us to buy / stream them.

I posted over in the digitalspy Top Of The Pops 1980 thread that I have a feeling that the chart featured on TOTP 1980 last Thursday (chart week ending 5 January 1980) was possibly wholly based on sales prior to Christmas 1979 with the sales week being Monday 17 December to Saturday 22 December 1979. Back then the chart compiler, BMRB, always skipped collecting sales for one week of the year with this being around the Christmas /New Year time and I can't imagine that they would have skipped collecting sales in a full week prior to Christmas in favour of collecting sales from Monday 24 December to Saturday 29 December 1979 (which would normally be the sales week covered for a chart dated 5 January) which would be one of the the lowest (if not the lowest) sales week of the year. Could it be possible that BMRB waited until after the Christmas to compile this chart (the sales diaries wouldn't arrive at BMRB's HQ in Ealing until Christmas Eve at the soonest) and as the next issue of Music Week would be dated 5 January 1980 is it possible that the chart was compiled between the Christmas and New Year in order to give the industry (including Radio 1, Top Of The Pops and Music Week) a new chart for the New Year? Some possible giveaways: Christmas hits still climbing 'My Girl' by Madness a new entry at number 54 - the record was released on Friday 21 December 1979 so would be charting on a maximum of sales of 2 days. A number 54 entry sounds about right for this The possibility the programme was recorded before the New Year rather than the day you would expect: Wednesday 2 January 1980 - although the set is made to look like it is from 1980 some of the performances that aren't repeats or are on video seem to have a slightly Christmas feel to them. Perhaps the programme was recorded on 2 January but the live performances were recorded earlier? It would mean the programme was recorded just before the New Year though if not recorded on 02/01/80. Dave Taylor once posted that BMRB did sometimes compile New year charts for the 1970s based on sales in the immediate run up to the Christmas (one in 1971/72 and one in 1974/75 - the chart dated 4 January 1975 was actually announced on Radio 1 on Tuesday 24 December 1974 but did not appear in Music Week until the issue dated 4 January 1975 hence its chart week ending date). If this was the case for the chart of 5 January 1980 it would mean that no sales were collected for 24-29 December 1979 - that makes more sense than ignoring sales in the biggest sales week of the year (17-22 December 1979).

The OCC have dropped the rule that requires albums only ever released as a budget album to have to sell twice as many copies as albums that started out as mid or full price albums in order to qualify for a certification. This has been the case since the automatic certification scheme began on 22 July 2013. The BPI confirmed this when a poster at one of the boards contacted them when budget-only albums began to receive numerous certification awards. The reason why the need to sell twice as many copies was dropped was to simplify the certification process as it is the OCC sales / product database that awards the certification - it makes it easier if the database doesn't constantly need to reference whether an album has always been a budget price only release before awarding a certification.

Every time the last Saturday in December has fallen on the 27th this has been the cut-off sales point for the chart year. See 1997, 2003 and 2008. It should really be January 3 as the cut-off point (more days of the chart week fall into 2014) but this has never happened yet in the Millward Brown / CIN / OCC era.

A press release from the BPI has just confirmed that the chart year ended on 27 December 2014. http://www.bpi.co.uk/media-centre/british-...es-in-2014.aspx It's in the "Notes For Editors" section at the end of the press release: It means we are in Week 1 of 2015 - that means that this year should be a 53 week chart year, with the chart period running Sunday 28 December 2014 to Saturday 2 January 2016.

There could be even more confusion soon - David Joseph, the guy in charge of Universal Music in the UK and the main guy behind the move to incorporate streaming into the singles chart, has now said he wants streaming introduced into the albums chart. Given that this has now happened in the US Billboard Albums chart I'm guessing it will be six months maximum before it also happens in the UK...

The YTD / EOY chart for this year will be straightforward as streaming is included from day 1. It just appears the OCC don't know what to do with the EOY chart for last year so to hedge their bets they've produced 3 EOY charts for 2014!

^ I assume the UKC+ EOY chart must include streaming data from the beginning of 2014.

There's a third EOY chart which is in the latest issue of UKChartsPlus. 'Let It Go' is at number 9 while Meghan is at number 10. Confusion!

It was supposed to be getting backdated but perhaps that was only for sales comparison purposes for weekly and quarterly sales throughout the year? However it looks like the OCC have been providing UKC+ with a revised YTD chart with streaming sales included, backdated to the start of the year.

I was thinking more that it's (download and physical) sales only up to the end of June and then sales + streaming sales from July onwards. The Ed Sheeran sales total for 'Thinking Out Loud' (at number 5) is a combination of both sales + streaming sales. The figure for 'Happy' would also suggest sales only to the end of June and then sales + streaming sales since July - the single had sold 1.288m copies to the end of June on downloads only while 'Rather Be' was on 0.977m copies at that point. The additional sales from July onwards for both the last titles must include sales + streaming sales from that point onwards. I think the Charts+ YTD chart has been based on sales + streaming sales (the latter backdated to the beginning of the year) since streaming was introduced in July. Edit: having just re-read what I posted, I'm not sure I now even agree with myself! The additional sales since July for both Pharrell and Clean Bandit with streaming sales added to downloads don't add up! I'm sure the OCC know what they are doing... it would be nice if they would let everyone else know what it is!

The OCC seem to be suggesting that streaming data is included - but based on what is in the following article, it is only from July onwards http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/t...-revealed-3386/

It was a bumper week for album sales in Christmas week 2005 - in total 10,581,571 albums were sold which I believe is the highest ever weekly figure, though Christmas week in 2000 and 2006 came close. The top 5 artist albums all sold over 200,000 with the top 16 selling over 100,000 and the top 98 all sold over 10,000.

I've got the Music Week chart report for that week. The albums sales were (with rounded figures which was usually all Alan Jones quoted back then): December 26, 1998 1. Ladies And Gentlemen - George Michael 309,000 2. I've Been Expecting You - Robbie Williams 178,000 3. Talk On Corners - The Corrs 156,000 5. Where We Belong - Boyzone 138,000 6. Step One - Steps 136,000 11. B*Witched - B*Witched 89,000 The top 37 artist albums all sold over 24,000 copies Compilations: 1. Now 41 - 186,000 2. Hits 99 - 140,000 4. Chef Aid - The South Park Album 64,000 Total album sales for the week: 6,787,000

Mr Blobby's sales for the Christmas chart in 1993 suffered to an extent because the Christmas chart was based on sales from 12 to 18 December (chart dated 25 December). The following week (chart dated 1 January 1994) the chart was based on the sales week in the run up to Christmas (19 to 25 December) and the single recorded a sales increase of over 50% with sales of around 140,000.

It would be interesting to see how many copies the album is selling at the moment. The album was certified Platinum last week, having passed total sales of 300,000 copies. It passed Gold (100,000 sales) just over 3 months earlier, at the end of August and Silver (60,000) at the beginning of August.

The number 5 album that week - The Greatest Hits by Texas also cleared 200,000 sales, selling 230,000 copies.

I'm guessing that the Platinum disc for 'Babe' (which was awarded in January 1994) was most likely due to a classic case of a single being massively overshipped at the time in the expectation it would sell a lot more than it did. I still think the OCC have overlooked sales from 1994 unless they have revised sales downwards from those which were given at the time for both 1993 and early 1994, which are from pre-Millward Brown days. The sales they should hold are the sales calculated by Gallup, which they don't usually change.

Most (over 90%) of singles sold in 1989 were still on vinyl with 7" singles still accounting for over 60% of the market. But sales on cassette and CD were starting to take off. However cassette singles didn't reach their peak for sales until 1994 to 1997 with CD singles reaching their peak at much the same time. But in the second half of the 1980s there was just a general decline in singles sales and this continued into the first three years of the 1990s. Some of the decline was probably due to people moving from buying records on vinyl to cassette / CD but it probably also reflected the move by many record buyers towards buying albums in preference to singles.

It looks like the OCC may have overlooked sales from 1994 for 'Babe'. Its sales to the end of 1993 were 350k. Add in downloads and that may account for the sales total of 385k. Its sales in 1994 were about 60k so that would bring the total up to at least 445k.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/tickets/tv Unfortunately TOTP is already fully booked.

Hopefully there will be new presenters rather than the tired line up of Fearne and Reggie.

^ this. I agree 100%, It wouldn't be difficult for the OCC to base the chart year on an actual calendar year. It would mean Radio 1 counting down the EOY chart on New Year's Day though.

I'd imagine they'll publish an article with perhaps a top 10 or top 20 but I can't see them doing anything more than that...