Changing face of pop music charts

They would tune in their transistor radios to Radio One, plug in their earphones, and listen to the latest pop music charts.

Those were the days (this pun is unintended, for those who can remember the Mary Hopkin number one hit of that name from 1968) when the charts were decided on record sales alone.

Terms such as downloading and streaming of music were unheard of.

Today, the times they are a changing (this time, the pun is very much intended and Mr Pendle does not apologise to any Bob Dylan fans out there for the parody of his 1965 hit title) and the words “best selling single” can safely be confined to the history books as figures will no longer relate to sales alone.

From last Sunday, songs which are downloaded and played on streaming services will be included in the charts broadcast on Radio One, with 100 streams of a song equating to a single sale.

Actual sales of records over the counter are at an all-time low and will therefore no longer be the sole measure of a song’s popularity – Mr Pendle personally cannot remember the last time he bought a single.

The ways in which we choose to listen to the music (another unfortunate pun using the title of the 1972 Doobie Brothers hit) have changed, and so it is only right the way the charts are worked out reflects this.