Frequently Asked Questions about Charts/Sales/Certifications

[hello]

Do music video sales count towards a songs total?

In the US, music video sales from legal download outlets are not counted in a songs total and do not help a song on the Billboard charts.

in which country are those sales counted?

None. A music video does not count as a song. Some of them have separate certifications for rigntones, mastertones and any song downloaded digitally.
Most of them don't even have one at all.

[LikeNoOther]

I have a question.

Do pre-orders on Amazon count toward first week sales (BB, Soundscan, ect)?

[ShayLaB]

I have two questions...

First, I know that the RIAA base their calculations on the number of discs/albums/tapes included in the release. I don't understand how that works in practice.

I have a few examples:

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was a double album on release but is now a single CD. If I buy a CD copy of that now would that count as one or two according to the RIAA? Similarly, if I bought it on double vinyl (as I did last week) would it count as one or two according to the RIAA.

Thriller was a single album when released but Thriller 25 is a double. Assuming the RIAA treat all variations of Thriller as the same album does the count increment by different amounts depending on the version I buy?

I can understand why they started doing it in the way they did. Unfortunately technology has overtaken them and it appears to be a tad messy now.

Second, I was wondering about is where do people get their sales figures from. I know how to get figures from RIAA and BPI but what about countries such as Germany, Japan or France. Are there official sites with searchable databases for these countries?

Edit: I found this site http://tsort.info/music/charta.htm and it has links to a few official certification sites.

[merlls]

What Bullet, Aud, Spins? I alway see that names in the Radio Pop updates.. somebody knows? Thanks

[borderwolf]

Edit: I found this site http://tsort.info/music/charta.htm and it has links to a few official certification sites.

Yes, it's a good site!

[alejolo]

hi, is there any site where i can see which songs are beeing added to radio ?

Can you tell me if for example , Christmas Lights by Coldplay is beeing added ?

[Annsky]

I do not know if this is the correct place to post this, but I'm doing a bit of research for someone and my question is this;

Does anyone know the names of all the Christmas Albums that went to number one, first week of release, on the United Kingdom charts?

Thanking anyone who answers my question.

[kendallamc]

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... tart=27700

[forza]

I also want to ask a question. Does anyone know what is the certification of 900,000 copies sold in Spain??[/b]

[alejolo]

Hello , I wanted to ask where can I get radio add dates . Like which site. Thanks !

[diamondtooth]

I have an iTunes/chart related question so I thought I would ask it here.

I bought, for example, Cher Lloyds song Swagger Jagger a few months ago on iTunes.

Now if I buy the rest of her 'Sticks & Stones' album as a 'complete my album' purchase (ie. now buy all songs except Swagger Jagger), will this count as a sale of her ALBUM, or a sale or individual tracks?

Would be interested to know the answer!

[ShayLaB]

I think it will count as 1 to the album total but 1 will be subtracted from the single sales.

[floria]

I have a question!

Why gold certificates in the US and the world as a whole are half of platinum, althought from half a year price of gold is even more expensive?

In the UK even triple for albums!!!

100K GOLD vs 300K Platinum

24.11.11


Platinum
1552 US Dollar per ounce

Gold
1699 US Dollar per ounce

[jpguy]

WHAT IS THE ROLLING EFFECT???

[floria]

WHAT IS THE ROLLING EFFECT???

On the gold?

[Lioha]

WHAT IS THE ROLLING EFFECT???

It's big decreases in the daily airplay audience figures after the big first week increases which were based on the deal between artist's label and radios.

[sonia85]

I have question album tracks and singles sales are counted separated or not? I bought, for example single Rolling in The Deep on iTunes and somebody else bought the same song from album - album track.

[MrHat]

WHAT IS THE ROLLING EFFECT???

On the gold?

this cracked me up so much i almost puked.

[sonia85]

Records sales from artist site is counted to total sales or not?

[sonia85]

If i bought on iTunes records and i will pay by gift card then that records will be chart eligible?

[truthless]

If i bought on iTunes records and i will pay by gift card then that records will be chart eligible?

Sure.

People pay for those gift cards, so it's not like you would get those songs you bought via a gift card for free.

[sonia85]

If i bought on iTunes records and i will pay by gift card then that records will be chart eligible?

Sure.

People pay for those gift cards, so it's not like you would get those songs you bought via a gift card for free.

thx

[BritBert]

I'm not sure this qualifies as frequently asked, but I'm going to ask anyway;

It appears these days that the announcement of a new single is enough for many to scuttle off to iTunes to download whatever version of the track they can find.

There are instances where the single release includes a featured artist that the album track doesn't, so we have occasions where a track is chart listed with a featured artist before it's even available. A recent example that springs to mind is Worry About You by Tyler James featuring Kano, which was released on 15th February, so could only, really, possibly have charted w/e 23rd February. However, it entered the chart w/e 09 February at #183 and climbed to #52 the following week, from what could only have been sales of the track from Tyler James' album, A Place I Go, which does not feature Kano and is more than half a minute shorter in duration.

Now, I can accept multiple variants on a track being combined into one for sales purposes (albeit I believe sales of an EP or Remixes bundle should only count as one sale, equivalent to an old fashioned multi-track CD Single - remember them?), but surely tracks should be correctly listed on the official charts, even if the catalogue number used is the same?

To my mind, at least,

09 Feb #183 Tyler James - Worry About You
16 Feb #052 Tyler James - Worry About You
23 Feb #055 Tyler James ft Kano - Worry About You
02 Mar #038 Tyler James ft Kano - Worry About You

is correct. What would happen if, under the existing system, after the second week the track dropped out of the chart? Kano would forever be credited with an appearance in the chart for a track which he didn't appear on!

[EVH]

Charts

What is the Billboard (US) Internet Album Chart based on?
It's based sales from internet retailers that are counted by Soundscan (e.g Amazon)

In the US, what are audience impressions?
Audience impressions are the amount of people listening per week at all the radio stations across the country. The US Billboard singles charts are made up of airplay *and* single/digital sales, so audience impressions are used.

In Brazil, is the chart site Hot 100 Brasil official?
No, it's completely fabricated.


Is the Billboard Rock Album Chart based on total sales or from sales from specialist rock music shops?
Data for Billboard's sales charts -- which include all of our album charts -- are compiled by Nielsen SoundScan from a universe of merchants that represents more than 90% of the U.S. music retail market. The sample includes not only music stores and the music departments at electronics and department stores, but also direct-to-consumer transactions and Internet sales (both physical albums via Internet, and ones bought via digital downloads). A limited array of verifiable sales from concert venues is also tabulated.

All sales charts use the entire Nielsen SoundScan panel, with the exception of the R&B/Hip-Hop charts which uses a panel of core stores that specialize in the genre. The Nielsen SoundScan system utilizes that same point-of-sale that music merchants use to track their inventory, so you can think of itemized receipt from your last trip to the music store as a ballot cast for our charts. (From Billboard)

Do music video sales count towards a songs total?

In the US, music video sales from legal download outlets are not counted in a songs total and do not help a song on the Billboard charts.

I read this but I still have several questions.

What about some live albums that also have the DVD counterpart (such as Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same). Does the reported SoundScan total of this album (150,000 as of January 2013) include sales of the DVD and Blu-ray editions, or only the CD edition?

Does the SoundScan total of an artist (such as the 64 mil. figure for the Beatles) include sales of digital albums and singles? What about physical singles?

Does all SoundScan data include sales of both the US and Canada?

[EVH]

Any thoughts?