A new year and a new thread! And before we get down to business a few links and some background information......
The Irish chart is revealed online every Friday afternoon and covers sales between Friday and Thursday. Since the beginning of 2007 the main sales chart has included all physical and download sales as in the UK. The main charts are the singles chart (a Top 50), the artist albums chart (a Top 100), the compilation album chart (a Top 30) and the download-only chart (a Top 20). The first 3 of these can be found at
www.irma.ie while
www.chart-track.com carries the Top 50 singles, Top 75 Artist albums, Top 20 compilations and Top 20 downloads along with weekly commentaries. A weekly airplay chart is compiled by Neilsen but since the middle of 2008 this has been unavailable to the public. During 2009 IRMA also started publishing the Indie Album Chart - initially a Top 20 but this was reduced to a Top 10 after a couple of weeks and returning to a Top 20 again in April 2010 which has continued to publish.
Traditionally the Irish chart was broadcast on the national pop station 2FM (the Irish equivalent of Radio 1 in the UK!). From the beginning of 2FM back in May 1979 this was normally in the form of a 2 hour show though the format and days and times regularly changed. However at the start of 2010 the show was axed without explanation. For a while they continued to carry the charts on their website but a revamp of the site saw that feature removed. For the last 2 years there was no year end chart on 2FM - 31st December 2010 saw a 2 hour show playing the number 1 singles of the year adding the download chart and artist album chart no 1s of the week and this year there was absolutely nothing. It is most probable that they have lost the rights to broadcast the chart.
However the chart show lives on elsewhere in the form of "Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann" (Ireland's Official Top 40). This is a weekly programme presented entirely in the Irish language by Daithi O'Daibhin. It is produced by a company called Digital Audio Productions which ironically was set up by former 2FM presenter Dusty Rhodes. It is syndicated across a handful of stations who seem to broadcast it at different times over the weekend. There is a list of stations carrying the show on wikipedia but this seems to be inaccurate as some of them don't have it listed in their current schedules. What follows is a list of stations which I could find as at 1st January 2012 along with times and links to listen. Unless otherwise stated this would be the "Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann" syndicated programme.
Raidio Ri-Ra
Listen at:
http://www.rrr.ie/player.asx
Station Website:
http://www.rrr.ie
Broadcast at: Fri, Sat, Sun 18:00 - 20:00
Beat 102-103
Listen at:
http://www.beat102103.com/player_new.php
Station Website:
http://www.beat102103.com/
Broadcast at: Sun 07:50 - 09:50 (repeated 22:00 - 00:00)
Red FM
Listen at:
http://www.redfm.ie/player/
Station Website:
http://www.redfm.ie/
Broadcast at: Sun 10:00 - 12:00
Spin103.8
Listen at:
http://media.spin1038.com/listen_live/popup
Station Website:
http://spin1038.com
Broadcast at: Sun 18:45 - 20:45 This is also presented by Daithi O'Daibhin but is listed as Hit 30 na hÉireann and according to the show page on the website it also features the album and download charts.
Spin Southwest
Listen at:
http://media.spinsouthwest.com
Station Website:
http://media.spinsouthwest.com/listen_live/popup
Broadcast at: as Sun 18:45 - 20:45 This is also presented by Daithi O'Daibhin but is listed as Hit 30 na hÉireann and according to the show page on the website it also features the album and download charts.
Spin Southwest is a sister station to Spin103.8
Galway Bay FM
Listen at:
http://vista.streamguys.com/958
Station Website:
http://www.galwaynews.ie/galwaybayfm
Broadcast at: Sun 21:00 - ??:??
Ireland?s Top 30 Singles & Albums. This is an entirely different show and all that the schedule reveals is that it starts at 9pm on Sunday evenings.
Midwest Radio
Listen at:
http://www.midwestradio.ie/mwr/listen-live.html
Station Website:
http://www.midwestradio.ie
Broadcast at: Fri (22:00 - 23:00) THE HOT HITS HOUR AS GAEILGE (Brendan Roache is in the hotseat counting down Ireland's Official Top 40 as Gaeilge)
Update: 16th January 2011
An update on the links to the stations broadcasting the chart shows..... I have put Midwest Radio back as they now seem to be broadcasting the official chart again.
And LMFM has been removed as there is no chart show at the time listed. So the up to date schedule is as follows....
Friday
18:00 - 20:00 on Radio Ri-Ra ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
22:00 - 23:0 on Midwest Radio THE HOT HITS HOUR AS GAEILGE (Brendan Roache is in the hotseat counting down Ireland's Official Top 40 as Gaeilge)
Saturday
18:00 - 20:00 on Radio Ri-Ra ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
Sunday
07:50 - 09:50 Beat 102-103 ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
10:00 - 12:00 Red FM ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
18:00 - 20:00 on Radio Ri-Ra ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
18:45 - 20:45 on Spin 103.8 and Spin Southwest (Hit 30 na hÉireann)
21:00 - 23:00 on Galway Bay FM (Despite being listed as Ireland's Top 30 Singles & Albums on their website it is actually "Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann"). There is also a possibilty that it is on at the same time on Saturdays.
22:00 - 00:00 Beat 102-103 ("Top 40 Oifigiúil na hÉireann")
If anyone has any additions / corrections to the above list please let me know and I will update it
For full archive charts from January 2000 onwards I would recommend the chart-track website as it contains all the weekly charts since then. The irma website seems to have added an archive section which can be found at
http://www.irma.ie/charts_archive/overview.asp though this only seems to cover the Top 50 singles and artist albums of 2007 at present. The irma site also contains year end Top 20s since 2001. Also worth checking out is
www.irishcharts.ie which contains a fully searchable singles database going right back to 1962 when the first recognised chart was compiled (though there was a Top 10 published regularly from 1959). It is restricted to Top 30 hits but seems to be updated on a regular basis. This site also contains various other facts and figures and does have a certifications section though this is rather limited in content.
Sales info is extremely hard to come by for Ireland and the only details that seem to appear are those mentioned from time to time in the chart-track commentary. No certifications are published in Ireland until the entire list of possible certifications for the previous year been submitted and verified. This list is published only once a year and refers always to trade deliveries made up to the end of the previous calendar year. Therefore, the 2009 certifications were published in 2010 - the 2010 certifications were published in 2011 and the 2011 certifications won't be published until an unknown date later in 2012. This takes time. Going by previous years it is typically March when the list is published. It could be (much) later, but it's unlikely to be earlier. They may forget about it and not publish it immediately when it is ready. But it will eventually be published. Please be patient. There is no point asking when the certifications will be known - but as soon as they are, they will be posted here.
Many pre-2000 singles charts were posted on the UKMix forums back in 2006. Links to these and other Irish chart related topics can be found below
A Guide To The Irish Singles Charts of 2005
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
A Guide To The Irish Singles Charts of 2006
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41605
Ireland Number Ones 1960-69
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Chart Archives - 80s
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Full searchable Irish charts database now online
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Singles Charts 1976-1977
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1979 to 1981
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1982 to 1984
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1985 to 1987
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1988 to 1990
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1991 to 1993
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1994-96
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Charts 1997 to 1999
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
How much is Platinum sales in Ireland?
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Official Irish Downloads Chart Coming...
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Ireland's Favourites of The 21st Century
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish chartruns website>>
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Chart performance of Eurovision songs
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Number One Albums 1990 to date
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Complete Listing of Ireland's number one singles 1959 - date
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Top Ten 1959-1962
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=
Irish Chart Thread 2007
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...asc&start=0
Irish Chart Thread 2008
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=50259
Irish Chart Thread 2009
http://fatherandy2.proboards.com/index.cgi...0165&page=1
Irish Chart Thread 2010
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=68169
Irish Chart Thread 2011
http://fatherandy2.proboards.com/index.cgi...mp;thread=65416
http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=123236
http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77524