Bringing the album charts more into line with single releases, the Official Charts Company has now announced that it plans to use streaming data as well as physical and digital sales to compile its charts.
While this was method of measuring a song's popularity was brought into the singles charts last year, the album charts will now include data from a number of streaming sites, with 100 streams being equivalent to one sale of the album.
Speaking about the move, chief executive of the OCC Martin Talbot said, “It is important that we get in and make a change like this before it becomes a really significant part of the market and so ensure that it can evolve and grow as the streaming of albums evolves and grows”
The change is expected to take place from the 1st March and will benefit acts like Ed Sheeran who had the most streamed album of 2014.
[Via The Guardian]
