''Charts Plus'' was a weekly British chart newsletter that published the official Top 200 UK singles and Top 200 UK albums charts. It was a sister publication to the British music magazine ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' which itself only published the Top 75 UK singles and albums charts. ''Charts Plus'' was published from 1991 to 1994.
Origins
''Charts Plus'' was edited by Graham Walker and Tony Brown and was established in May 1991, shortly after the demise of ''
Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...
''. ''Charts Plus'' featured the singles chart with positions 76 to 200, albums chart positions 76 to 200, plus several genre and format chart, details on every Top 75 new entry, radio playlists (later the E.R.A. Top 100 Airplay charts) and statistics. An annual subscription to ''Charts Plus'' cost £495.
Information included
Subscription to ''Charts Plus'' would offer the following information in the newsletter:
*Singles positions 76-200.
*Albums positions 76-200.
*Commentary on new entries into the top 75.
*Market shares by format.
*Special chart research features.
*Playlisted singles by radio station (Airplay charts).
*Format charts for singles and albums.
*Import albums chart.
*Jazz and Blues chart.
*Titles dropping out of the top 75.
*Top 10 positions for major overseas markets and no. 1's for secondary markets.
*Scottish charts.
Demise
In September 1992, Spotlight, publishers of ''Music Week'', started ''
Hit Music
''Hit Music'' was a weekly British chart newsletter; sister publication to '' Music Week''. ''Hit Music'' existed for almost nine years, supplying the official UK music charts (as compiled by Gallup and later OCC/CIN). The founding editors were ...
'' as a cheaper alternative to ''Charts Plus''.
For only £110 ''Hit Music'' printed the singles chart (Top 75+25, i.e. with compressed positions 76 to 100), artist albums (Top 100), compilation albums (Top 50), rock chart and dance chart (Top 20s),
US Top 10s, plus details on Top 75 new entries, chart statistics, year-to-date charts (singles, albums, singles acts, album acts, Top 30s) listings of
BPI awards, and national number ones.
In November 1994, ''Charts Plus'' ceased publication and ''Hit Music'' then began publishing the (uncompressed) Top 200 singles and Top 200 albums charts from issue no. 111 (November 19, 1994).
''Hit Music'' also published the Top 150 Artists Albums, and Top 50 Compilations.
''Hit Music'' itself later folded,
together with several other ''Music Week'' newsletters, the last issue of ''Hit Music'' that was published was no. 439 (May 5, 2001). This meant that there was no longer a published source for the Top 200 singles and Top 200 albums charts.
However, by autumn 2001, a successor publication to ''Hit Music'' was founded, independent of ''Music Week'', in order to publish the British Top 200 charts: ''ChartsPlus'' (not to be confused with the 1990s publication of the same name). The ''ChartsPlus'' which was started in 2001 was renamed ''
UKChartsPlus
''UKChartsPlus'' is an independent weekly newsletter about the UK music charts. It was first published in September 2001 as ''ChartsPlus'' in order to authoritatively record the official music chart information in the United Kingdom, as compiled ...
'' in 2010.
See also
*
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
*
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
References
{{Music of the United Kingdom
1991 establishments in the United Kingdom
1994 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1991
Magazines disestablished in 1994
Listings magazines