so i've just discovered mate Where do you collect sales from? The simple answer is all significant retailers. These retailers span independent stores, high street chains, supermarkets, internet mail order and download services. As a result, we estimate that we capture around 99% of all singles sold, 98% of all albums and over 90% of all videos/DVDs. Do you count downloads? Yes, we have counted music downloads since 2004, within a couple of months of iTunes launching in the UK, when digital music was still a tiny proportion of all music sales. What about streaming? At the moment, streaming isn't counted towards the charts. In Spring 2009, the Official Charts Company began gathering streaming data. This is not being used in any charts straight away though – it is gathered simply for industry use, to assess the importance and power of streaming. But this is expected to be the first step towards streaming contributing towards some charts – one day. The first stage will be the development of a standalone Official Streaming Chart. Before any streaming information is included in what have traditionally been sales charts, it will be subject to significant market research and consultation, taking into account the views of consumers and industry professionals. http://www.officialcharts.com/singles-chart/
