Photo: WENN
For the first time ever in the UK, the singles charts are now set to include the amount of times that a song has been streamed online. The official top 10 most streamed tracks of all time has also been revealed - check it out below.
The first chart countdown to include streaming figures will be announced on BBC Radio One at 7pm on Sunday 6 July. This follows from and 'explosion' in streaming in the UK, after the number of weekly audio streams selected by music fans grew from 100 million in January 2013 to 200 million in January 2014.
There are up to 260 million weekly audio streams in the UK currently. Streaming figures will be supplied to the Official Charts Company by including Spotify, Deezer, Napster, O2 Tracks, Xbox Music and Music Unlimited and rara (powered by Omnifone), all members of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).
Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot said: "Audio streaming has grown at an extraordinary rate over the past year – and the time is now right to take this important step.
"The UK’s Official Singles Chart is culturally among the most important and influential in the world. We have been looking at this possibility for some time and now feel comfortable that our methodology is correct and that summer 2014 is the time that we should take this step.
He added: "The Official Singles Chart is (and always has been) the most trusted and definitive measure of Britain’s music tastes. Just as it has evolved through the years to reflect the most popular music in the UK, from 10 inch to 7 inch, vinyl to cassingles, CD singles to downloads, this is the latest stage of that progression – and will align the Official Singles Chart with the consumption habits of the future."
Watch Bastille discussing the announcement below
The top 10 most streamed tracks of all time have also been revealed - with Bastille coming in at No.1. See the full countdown below.
Bastille frontman Dan Smith said: "Hearing Pompeii has had over 26 million streams is amazing and completely weird and we’re really really happy. I think streaming going into the chart is definitely a good thing. I think for the charts to be fair it has to reflect how people digest music.
"I know with our album we’ve been really lucky and its far exceeded what we expected in terms of how many it actually sold, but if you look at the live shows we do versus how many albums we’ve sold, it’s clear that at least double, if not more people, have heard or own the album than have actually paid for it. I think bringing streaming in to that is pretty much as close as you can get to reality, so it’s definitely a good thing."
The Official Top 10 Most Streamed Songs Of All Time are:
1 POMPEII - BASTILLE 26.6m
2 GET LUCKY - DAFT PUNK FT PHARRELL WILLIAMS 24.5m
3 LET HER GO - PASSENGER 21.7m
4 WAKE ME UP - AVICII 21.4m
5 HAPPY - PHARRELL WILLIAMS 20.7m
6 BLURRED LINES - ROBIN THICKE/TI/PHARRELL 20.7m
7 RATHER BE - CLEAN BANDIT FT JESS GLYNNE 19.9m
8 RADIOACTIVE - IMAGINE DRAGONS 19.7m
9 COUNTING STARS -ONEREPUBLIC 19.7m
10 CAN'T HOLD US - MACKLEMORE/RYAN LEWIS/DALTON 17.2m
The Official Top 10 Most Streamed Acts Of All Time are:
1 ARCTIC MONKEYS 103.3m
2 EMINEM 94.1m
3 RIHANNA 87.8m
4 BASTILLE 83.0m
5 COLDPLAY 77.0m
6 ED SHEERAN 75.0m
7 ONE DIRECTION 74.2m
8 DRAKE 72.8m
9 BEYONCE 68.5m
10 KATY PERRY 67.1m
