Chart Watch & New Release News Episode 11 – How Are Album Sales Calculated via Streaming?
This weeks Highlights
After seeing physical media be almost all of the sales needed to get into the UK album charts this week we have an artist that made the top position without any physical sales at all Rap artist Drake & 21 Savage. So far this has been the only artist and genre where this has happened. Taylor Swift almost had a 3rd week at number being only 3,000 sales behind the number one spot.
With this being the case I thought this was the ideal time to try an explain how albums sales via streaming is calculated in the UK (it is different in the USA.
A full explanation on how streaming equates to album sales is in the video above
The fact that streaming plays can be gamed and manipulated. I know in the 70s / 80s record label reps would buy all the copies of a record from a shop they knew was part of the charts panel to try push a record into the charts. So gaming the system is not new. The problem is with streaming is it does not feel very scientific anyway trying to work out if so many streams equals a physical sale. At the end of the day in the best interest of musicians and fans. Streaming is great for discovery, I treat it like the radio. Buy if you like what you hear, nothing beats buying a physical copy that is yours to own. Phil Aston
New Release News
Uriah Heep : Chaos and Colour : 27th Jan 2023
Iggy Pop : Every Loser : 6th Jan 2023
Peter Gabriel : i/o
Trapeze : Don’t Stop The Music : Complete Recordings Vol 1 : 1970 – 1992
Barclay James Harvest : One Again : Expanded
Steppenwolf : The Epic Years : 1974 – 1979
Heavy Metal Kids : The Albums : 1974 1976
Girlschool : The School Report : 1978 2008 : 5CD Box Set
Nik Turner : Space Ritual 1994 : 2CD/DVD Set
Jade Warrior : Eclipse & Fifth Element
Mark Knopfler : The Studio Albums 2009 – 2018
Blackmore’s Night : Shadow of The Moon 25th Anniversary Edition
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Los Angeles Forum – April 26, 1969 (November 18),
Frank Zappa: Waka/Wazoo (Dec 16)
Various Artists: Deep In The Woods – Pastoral Psychedelia and Funky Folk 1968-1975 (November 18)
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
