The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation that compiles various official

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

s in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts include ones for singles, albums and films, with the data compiled from a mixture of downloads, purchases (of physical media) and streaming. The OCC produces its charts by gathering and combining sales data from retailers through market researchers Kantar, and claims to cover 99% of the singles market and 95% of the album market, and aims to collect data from any retailer who sells more than 100 chart items per week. The OCC is operated jointly by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

and the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) (formerly the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD)) and is incorporated as a

private company limited by shares A private company limited by shares is a class of private limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Scotland, certain Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It has shareh ...

jointly owned by BPI and ERA. It was formed in 1990 as the Chart Information Network by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, BARD, and the publishers of ''

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 We ...

''. CIN took over as compilers of the official UK charts in 1990, and the company has continued in that role, as the OCC, since 1994. Before then, the charts were produced by a succession of market research companies, beginning with the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) in 1969 and Gallup in 1983. Before the production of the "official" charts, various less comprehensive charts were produced, most notably by newspaper/magazine ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' (''NME'') which began its chart in 1952. Some of these older charts (including ''NME''s earliest singles charts) are now part of the official OCC canon.

European charts

In 2017, the OCC made a five-year deal with the

Irish Recorded Music Association The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) is a non-profit association set up in 1999 to promote certain interests of the music industry in Ireland. It is particularly active in addressing copyright issues, and it compiles the official music ...

(IRMA) to compile the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

, Irish Albums Chart and other Irish charts on behalf of IRMA. In December 2020, the OCC announced it was taking over the contract from German company GfK, in compiling the French music charts for

Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

(SNEP)/National Union of Phonographic Producers (SCPP) with the OCC taking over on 1 January 2021.

Chart synopsis

All of the OCC's charts are published weekly on Friday nights, and cover sales for the preceding week, Friday to Thursday. From 3 August 1969 until 5 July 2015, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday. In the United Kingdom, genre-specific charts include Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40, Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40, Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40, Official Progressive Albums Chart Top 30 and the Asian Music Chart Top 40. It also produces charts such as the Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50, which tracks the progress of records (singles and albums) released on

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

s or distributed by independent companies (not WMG/Sony/UMG) regardless of the genre/music released. The Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100 appears in listings on the Official Charts Company's site alongside its charts for the Republic of Ireland and ''Billboards Top 20 singles and albums (with a link to the full Hot 100/albums 200 via billboard.com). The Scottish chart is a listing reflecting how sales towards the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

are faring in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Until December 2020, the OCC published a Scottish singles chart on its website as well, though this chart may only be available via the UKChartsPlus newsletter. This subscription newsletter also includes the Official UK Top 100 Welsh Singles and Albums Charts, which serves the same purpose in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

as the ones in Scotland, and the full UK Top 200 Albums chart. The Official UK Top 200 Albums is just one of a number of 'industry only' charts not published for the general public, with others including UK Budget Album Chart (with any album including a low dealer price is excluded from the main album chart). Until the OCC changed its chart rules, and brought in criteria like the three-track rule (a maximum of three singles within the Top 100 by the same artist will be chart eligible), a Top 200 Singles chart was also published for people within the music industry. The OCC also charts sales of DVDs and Blu-rays within the United Kingdom. While its music charts are now Friday to Thursday, its video charts remain Sunday to Saturday. On 5 September 2008, the Official UK Charts Company rebranded itself as the Official Charts Company and introduced a new company logo. It later dropped the word 'Company' and became just "Official Charts". From May 2012, a new chart was launched – the Official Streaming Chart. This counts audio streams from streaming services

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, Deezer, Blinkbox Music, Napster, amongst others. The chart is the first of its kind to rank streams from ad-funded and subscription services and the Official Streaming Chart Top 100 is now published weekly on the Official Charts website, and in music industry trade magazine ''

''. In April 2015, the UK's first vinyl record chart of the modern era was launched by the Official Charts Company due to 'the huge surge of interest' in the sector. The chart was launched following the growth of the sector in the UK for the seventh year in a row. In July 2015, Official Charts changed its chart methodology from traditional Sunday slot to the new Friday slot, effective on 10 July 2015 to coincide with the 'New Music Friday - Global Release Day' campaign set by IFPI which effective on 10 July 2015 as well. Beginning in 2017, the Official Charts Company changed its methodology for calculating the Top 40, intending to more accurately reflect the rise in music streaming. Prior to January 2017, 100 streams counted as one 'sale' of a song. From January onward, the ratio became 150:1. Additionally, in June 2017, it was decided that after a record has spent at least 10 weeks on the chart, any track which has declined for three consecutive weeks will see its streams:sales ratio change from 150:1 to 300:1, in an attempt to accelerate their disappearance from the chart. In mid-2019, the company also compiled the Asian Music Chart Top 40, alongside BritAsia TV. The chart highlights UK's biggest Asian songs of the week, based on sales and streams across a seven-day period. In 2022, the success of

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

's " Running Up That Hill" after its use in the fourth season of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Stranger Things'' brought a challenge against the rules introduced in 2017. The rules were intended to prevent streaming of older songs potentially keeping them on the chart for years. This meant that Bush's song, which had been a Top 3 hit 37 years before, would have to obtain twice the streamings of

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His showmanship, artistry, and flamboyant fashion have had a Cultural impact of Harry Styles, significant impact on popular culture. Styles's musical ca ...

' song " As It Was" to earn the same 'sales', despite easily being the most streamed and most downloaded song. The OCC granted a 'manual reset' in order to reflect the success of the revival of Bush's hit. As well as

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

-specific and music video charts, the OCC tracks purchases (DVDs/Blu-rays) and downloads of television programmes, films and sports/fitness videos from a range of retailers and online sites.

The Chart Supervisory Committee

As the OCC is jointly operated by the BPI and the ERA, a Chart Supervisory Committee is in place with panel of representatives from both the record industry and from retailers. Five representatives from each sector are selected, with record companies represented by the major label corporations WMG,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and UMG alongside a couple of large independents,

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

and PIAS Group. The Chart Supervisory Committee is the body which discusses and decides on any chart rule changes, whether it be changes to physical/digital formats or with the chart ratios ACR and SCR (Accelerated Chart Ratio and Standard Chart Ratio), with representatives meeting approximately four times a year.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 establishments in the United Kingdom Music organisations based in the United Kingdom

European charts

Chart synopsis

The Chart Supervisory Committee

See also

References

External links