As many news commentators have informed us, the phenomenal first-week success of Ed Sheeran's latest album 'Divide' (672,000 copies sold in its first week of release, the third-highest first week sales ever behind - Adele and Oasis, outselling the rest of the top 500 albums combined, fastest selling album by a male artist ever, biggest-selling one-week vinyl album in over 20 years) meant that yesterday, all 16 tracks from the album gained a placing in the UK singles chart. Ed is as bewildered as the rest of us by these numbers and says himself that a change in the charts is needed.
Last July, in my blog entry Looking after number one, I looked at similar issues when streaming last hit the headlines - when a certain stubborn single couldn't be shifted from the top of the singles chart. The case with Ed Sheeran is slightly different, I feel. Although Thinking Out Loud (co-written with Amy Wadge) may have been the first No. 1 single given a helping hand by streaming; this time around, Ed Sheeran has shifted an incredible number of purchased units. So if everyone who wanted the album and/or individual tracks from it has handed over their cash this week, maybe next week's Top 40 will show us how effective streaming is at keeping track on the chart.
From January 2017, a song has to be streamed 150 times - increased from the previous 100 - to account for one physical sale. And while he's understandably reluctant to change the charts after every strange development, Official Charts Company MD Martin Talbot will certainly be keeping his eye on things. I still think that anyone who has not actually handed over any cash for a given track cannot expect their listening habits to be reflected in any chart based on sales. There is probably no way now of restricting the number of songs in the chart by the same artist, though I would certainly call for the return one official chart that only reflects the state of purchase rather than the state of play.
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