Robbie

A couple of unofficial Download chart facts that the OCC don't seem to be wanting to reveal! First up: the biggest selling download prior to the OCC collating meaningful download sales information was most likely 'Stockholm Syndrome' by Muse which sold over 15,000 downloads in its first week when released as a digital only single in July 2003. The track would have been inside the top 20 had downloads been chart eligible. And indeed had the OCC been collecting sales data at the time! #2: Although the Official Downloads chart wasn't officially first published until September 2004, a series of Test charts were compiled by the OCC and published by Music Week from 26 June 2004 to 28 August 2004. Number 1 on these test charts were: 1 26-Jun 1 wk Pixies - Bam Thwok 2 03-Jul 1 wk Maroon 5 - This Love 3 10-Jul 5 wk Streets - Dry Your Eyes 4 14-Aug 3 wk Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme Westlife replaced 'Lola's Theme' on the first Official Download chart on 4 September 2004. The official title of the Westlife single on the Download chart was 'Flying Without Wings (Live)'

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor Ensign ENYMC 630 http://www.45worlds.com/tape/media/enymc630 Killer - Adamski MCA MCAC1400 http://www.45worlds.com/tape/media/mcac1400uk

Thanks to the link Graham gave above, I've been able to search for the cassette single (I still can't get around to calling them cassingles, even after all these years! - "cassingle" sounds like a piece of dodgy jewelery!) for 'Turtle Power' by Partners In Kryme. The catalogue number was SBK TCTURTLE 1 http://www.45worlds.com/tape/media/tcturtle1

When / if streaming is included in the Singles chart I wonder if record labels and iTunes will move to allowing the track to be streamed in full from the moment the track is pre-ordered? iTunes is on the verge of introducing a streaming service so it wouldn't take much to allow pre-purchased tracks to be streamed in full. In this way the track would be eligible for the chart from day one and then the track would then count as a sale when it is officially available to purchase. The OCC would need to be able to properly track streams / sales of such tracks though. Does anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

Just a reply to a handful of the queries / observations you raised above DanChartFan: #708 – Manchester United Football Squad – Come On You Reds – Polygram TV MANU 4 [*UK cat no was MANU 2?*] Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Come On You Reds/ Come On You Reds (Instrumental) [sBS] Music Week lists the cassette variant as being Polygram TV MANU 4 - 2 is showing as the CD version #680 – The Shamen – Ebeneezer Goode [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] MW lists the Cassette as being One Little Indian 78 TP7C #660 – The Simpsons – Do The Bartman [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] MW: Geffen GEF 87C #662 – Hale And Pace And The Stonkers – The Stonk [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] MW: London LONCS 296 #663 – Chesney Hawkes – The One And Only MW: Chrysalis CHSMC 3627 #665 – Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up Giant W 0036C Apologies if you already have the cassette single catalogue numbers for the above records.

Thanks Graham. Was it 'Woman' that was the first number 1 to be released on cassette or did 'Imagine' get a cassette release too? I'm guessing 'Imagine' probably didn't given that there is no listing for that format for the single at jpgr.co.uk.

So it looks like 'Crashed The Wedding' by Busted was the last number 1 single to be released as a cassette single. I think the first may either have been 'Imagine' or 'Woman' by John Lennon. I did once read that 'Imagine' was released as a cassette single in early 1981 but I can't find any reference to it at a website which has a comprehensive listing of all records released by both the Beatles and solo records by the four members of the group. 'Woman', the record that replaced 'Imagine' at number 1 definitely was released as a cassette single in January 1981. Here is the cassette single for 'Woman', going very cheap (so far!) on ebay for 99p http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-Lennon-Cass...s-/111325317139 I've tried to think of any number 1 records prior to January 1981 which were released on cassette single but can't think of any. Given that the first ever cassette single was released only two and a half years earlier it's likely that either 'Imagine' or 'Woman' is the first.

I think the author of that article is getting somewhat confused about format restrictions. It was April 1990 when the first real attempt was made to restrict the amount of variants of a single that were chart eligible. In 1989 a number of records were released on a multitude of formats/ variants with some single reportedly being available in a dozen or more versions. The music industry decided to reduce the amount of eligible formats to 5 in April 1990 but I can't remember the specifics. Further restrictions during the 90s reduced this further to 4 then 3, the latter being in 1998. By the way, cassette singles and albums are still a chart eligible format though so few are released these days that the latest version of the chart rules, published by the OCC in 2013, doesn't even mention the format any more. But up to the previous version of the rules (in 2009) they were still mentioned. Music Week also prints the following each week above the Singles and Albums charts: "The Official UK Singles and Albums Charts are produced by the Official Charts Company, based on a sample of more than 4,000 record outlets. They are compiled from actual sales last Sunday to Saturday, incorporating seven-inch, 12-inch, CDs, LPs, digital bundles, download sales and cassettes". In addition the BPI still include cassettes in their annual roundup of record sales. This information is provided by the OCC. There were a handful of cassette singles released last year but these were mainly due to Cassette Store Day which happened last September. Amongst the releases was a re-release of "Forever EP" by Haim. However as only 100 copies were produced it was never going to trouble the charts... http://www.discogs.com/Haim-Forever/release/4965303

I've got quite a few cassette singles though admittedly I haven't played any of them for years!

I'm actually surprised to read that downloads don't have VAT at UK rates already applied. In fact I'm quite shocked to read that they don't. No wonder the likes of Apple are making a fortune if they are only paying 3% VAT.

Hi and welcome to BuzzJack. The single only charted for one week, on the chart dated 19 February 1983, at number 98. I very much doubt the single sold even 5,000 copies in total. I don't know what proportion of its sales would have been on either 7" or 12". I remember the Eye To Eye original version of the song which dates back to 1980. It was playlisted by Radio 1 but failed to chart. The song was co-written by Julian Marshall, one half of duo Marshall Hain who had a top 10 hit in 1978 with 'Dancing In The City'. By 1980 Marshall Hain had disbanded and Marshall had formed Eye To Eye. The Virginia David version of 'Am I Normal?' was produced by Andy Hill, the songwriter and producer most famous for his work with Bucks Fizz.

What a coincidence, I was actually listening to the track just as I was reading this! It was a double A side in 1998, the release being 'No-One But You/Tie Your Mother Down'. The single was released to promote the compilation album 'Queen Rocks'. The original release of 'Tie Your Mother Down' back in 1977 wasn't released as a double A side.

Boyzone (or rather their label) went one step further in order to get 'No Matter What' off the chart. The follow up single 'I Love The Way You Love Me' featured a live version of 'No Matter What' on one of the CD formats. As a result, following the release of ILTWYLM on the Monday, when the Tuesday midweeks were compiled, because NMW was still in the top 40 ILTWYLM was chart ineligible. So that very day the record label reduced the record dealer price of NMW to one pence below the minimum dealer price a single had to be to qualify for the charts, thus making it chart ineligible and therefore meaning the follow up single could now chart. On the midweeks for the Wednesday NMW was nowhere to be seen with ILTWYLM a new entry at number 1 though it eventually ended up at number 2 on the Sunday. At least Boyzone's record label were able to get 'No Matter What' off the chart through, literally, price fixing. When Daniel Powter released 'Free Loop', his follow up to 'Bad Day' the record label included a live version of 'Bad Day' on the CD single version of 'Free Loop'. The problem was 'Bad Day' was still in the top 20 and the deletion rule hadn't yet been introduced. The outcome was that 'Bad Day' continued to chart while 'Free Loop' was chart ineligble. Had it been chart eligible it would have been inside the top 20.

The week before it disappeared from the chart it had sold 694k copies in total.

It was because chart rules stated (and still do) that a follow up single can't chart if the B side features a version of a current top 40 hit on the "B side". Rules have been slightly relaxed (a current top 40 single can drop outside the top 40 and re-enter without making the follow up single ineligible for the chart) but as very few singles are released as more than one track download singles the chart rule is pretty much redundant.

But in the period prior to October 1987, which is what is being referred to above, Radio 1 didn't broadcast the new chart until a Tuesday lunchtime and following a Bank Holiday the chart was delayed until a Wednesday and possibly in later years, late Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, it is strange that the Bank Holiday would delay the announcement and actual publication of a chart if it had been compiled on a Sunday. I can only guess that some security checks were still being carried out on a Monday morning, which was pushed back to a Tuesday morning when there was a Bank Holiday. Didn't Radio 1 eventually start to announce the new chart late on a Tuesday afternoon when there had been a Bank Holiday? I'm not sure when this was, perhaps it was after the mid 80s. But either way the publication of the chart would have been sufficiently delayed that Record Mirror, operating on a tight print schedule, would have had to go to press before the chart was officially available. But even then I have vague memories in the mid 80s of Record Mirror publishing the top 40 part of the new chart when the announcement of the chart had been delayed because of a Bank Holiday.

A Record Mirror article in May 1987 titled "The Art Of Charting" which discussed how both the Gallup and MRIB charts were compiled revealed that the Gallup chart was "ready on a Sunday (and) published on a Tuesday". This was 5 months before the chart reveal date switched to a Sunday. I'm guessing that it had probably been compiled on a Sunday for a while by then. When Gallup first took over chart compilation duties on 27 December 1982 the method of shops entering sales data was to key into what was called a "dataport" the serial number of each record sold with the sales data being sent each week via a modem to Gallup who then, according to Alan Jones (then with Record Mirror) "start processing the information and within hours the new chart is ready for publication". That would suggest the chart was being compiled on a Sunday from when Gallup first took over. However, it is possible that the publication of the chart was delayed in the early days to allow for security checking, especially if sales data was submitted only once a week from record dealers. At some point record shops will have moved from submitting data on a weekly basis to submitting it on a daily basis, or at least on a more frequent basis - if I recall midweek sales charts (apparently only published on Thursdays and Fridays as late as 1988 if the KLF manual on how to have a number 1 hit is correct) appeared around 1984 or 1985. This should have meant that by 1985 or 1986 at the latest that any chart produced on a Sunday was ready to be published and announced on a Sunday as any security checks could be done prior to a final chart being compiled. In 1986 the chart compilation process was made even quicker by the introduction of barcodes on the back of record sleeves and the replacement of dataports that required sales data to be input manually with computers that used barcode technology. However the chart panel was doubled in size in May 1987 so perhaps Gallup, the BPI and the BBC decided to wait until any teething troubles had been ironed out before moving to a Sunday reveal. However, I'm sure the main underlying reason for speeding up the chart compilation process and switching to a Sunday reveal was down to the popularity of the Network Chart.

Millward Brown's Warwick office, from where the charts are compiled http://goo.gl/maps/dhFwQ

Happy 20th birthday to Millward Brown's compilation of the charts and to Eric, the main Millward Brown computer and to Tracey, the back up system who were there at the start! A contemporary report of Millward Brown taking over the compilation of the charts from back in 1994: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business...ad-1395301.html

I still buy most - the vast majority in fact - of my albums on CD. The only problem is I'm buying less albums these days. I can see a day soon when all I buy is on digital only. If it hadn't been for amazon introducing autorip a couple of years ago I would have already made the move to digital only. With autorip I have been able to obtain both the CD and the digital version of an album for the same price as the digital version but have been able to sell the CD version (often unplayed) and save myself money. If amazon was to stop the autorip feature then it would be digital all the way for me.

Journey - Don't Stop Believin' It has sold around 970,000 copies on download and may pass a million sales later this year. If not this year it definitely will at some point in 2015.

It is, it passed a million sales last year.

That was the second time he'd left Radio 1. He originally left in September 1980 to take up a job working for CNN in Canada before returning to the UK, and to Radio 1, a year later.

There are some excellent records on that 15 March 1992 chart. I can remember listening to the chart and remember being a bit surprised that the excellent 'Don't Lose The Magic' by Shawn Christopher had not entered the chart inside the top 20. Access to midweeks in those pre-internet days was restricted only to people within the music industry though sometimes Piers Morgan, then in charge of The Sun's Bizarre page, would give very limited midweek chart information if something notable had been released. But not only did Shawn Christopher enter at a disappointing number 33 but the following week it climbed a mere three places to its number 30 peak. I'd completely forgotten about the track until now but thanks to Smiffj posting the chart I've just gone and bought it from iTunes.