This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (April 2007)

Music of the United Kingdom
Royal Albert Hall, London, a major venue for all forms of music
Timeline
General Topics
Early popular music • 1950s and 60s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s to present
Genres
Classical • Early music • Folk • Hip Hop • Jazz • Pop • Popular • Rock • Soul
Traditional Forms
Ethnic music	Caribbean • England • Ireland • Scotland • Wales
Traditional music	British folk revival • Ballad • Carol • Children's song • Hornpipe • Jig • Morris dance • Protest song • Reel • Sea shanty • Strathspey • War song • Work song
Media and Performance
Music awards	Mercury • The Brit Awards • Gramophone Awards
Music charts	Singles Chart • Classical Chart • Albums Chart • R&B Chart • Indie Chart • Dance Chart • Rock Chart
Music festivals	Cambridge folk • Download • Edinburgh • Eisteddfodd • Glastonbury • Isle of Wight • Knebworth • Royal National Mod • The Proms • Reading and Leeds • T in the Park • V
Music media	NME • Melody Maker • Mojo • Q • The Wire • The Gramophone
National anthem	"God Save the Queen"
Regional Music
Local forms	Birmingham • Cardiff • Cornwall • Liverpool • Manchester • Northumbria • Somerset • Yorkshire
Other regions	Anguilla • Bermuda • Cayman Islands • Gibraltar • Montserrat • Turks and Caicos • Virgin Islands
This box: view • talk

The UK Official Download Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the music industry. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart being published on a Wednesday afternoon, so as to not to clash with the release of the main UK Singles Chart. For a brief time the Top 10 was aired on BBC Radio 1's Chart Show every Sunday afternoon from 4–7 PM, along with the Top 20 albums and the UK Top 40 singles.

The main chart contains the Top 40 downloads; however, usually only the Top 20 are of main interest. For periods in 2006, a Top 200 was published.^[1] The chart only uses sales of permanent digital downloads, that is single-download tracks on non-subscription online music stores. Some downloading services offer a monthly fee plan where generally an unlimited amount of tracks can be downloaded within a month for a certain price. Tracks downloaded in these instances do not qualify.

Contents 1 History 2 Criteria for inclusion 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

With legal downloads having been on the increase since the new millennium began, the UK Official Charts Company decided to organise the official UK Download Chart. Its inception was on 26 June 2004.^[2] In early January 2005, the week before the 1000th number one single topped the UK Singles Chart, legal downloads took over physical sales for the first time in UK Chart history. This has been the case ever since, with sales throughout early 2005 being very poor and all-time records for lowest sales being set throughout.^{[citation needed]} Therefore, on 17 April 2005, the official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as well as physical sales in an attempt to boost flagging single sales.

The first official Number One track on the download chart was The Pixies' "Bam Thwok".^[2][3][4] The single with the longest stay on the UK Official Download Chart is "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley hanging on to the top spot for eleven weeks. In week commencing 1 December 2008 Leona Lewis with her cover version of "Run" became the second fastest selling download of all time.^[5] Lady Gaga's single, "Poker Face" is the most downloaded song in UK Download history. ^[6]

[edit] Criteria for inclusion

• The track must have a maximum playing time of 15 minutes.
• PDDs (Permanent Digital Downloads) must be bought by the retailer at a minimum of 40p per track, or 32p if the record company does not publish a set dealer price. The retailer may sell tracks at a loss at its own discretion.^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of number-one music downloads (UK)

[edit] External links

• Top 40 on BBC Radio 1
• Top 40 on OCC

v • d • e UK music charts Singles chart: Records • Number-one singles (by American artists • simultaneous U.S. and UK no.1 hits) • Number-one artists • Best selling singles by year • UK Million-Selling Singles • Most Number-ones • One-hit wonders Number-one singles by Decade • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s Albums chart Number-one albums • All Time Best-Selling • Best selling albums by year Number-one albums by Decade • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s Download chart Number-one music downloads Other charts UK R&B Chart • UK Indie Chart • UK Rock Chart • UK Dance Chart Miscellaneous The Official UK Charts Company • ChartsPlus • Midweeks • Music Week Related articles UK DVD Chart

This article about a music publication is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e