Promusicae publishes Top 100 Albums Chart back after the state of alert

07-07-2020

The best seller discs and digital streams chart are now blended in a new Top 100 to offer a more precise reflection of the market

The official best sellers chart in Spain, the most traditional and viewed chart among music fans and professionals of the industry for more than three decades, is published again on Tuesday on Promusicae website, following the lapse of time of the state of alert that forced to discontinue its publication for the first time in its history. Besides, Top 100 Albums returns with important news of the integration in a single classification of physical sales, streaming in platforms and digital downloads, which allows a more precise snapshot, at a glance, of Spanish audience current choice when it comes to enjoying recorded music.

Promusicae, the organisation representing 95% of Spanish phonographic industry, and AGEDI, were forced to cancel the best sellers chart past 7^th April, a circumstance that had never happened before since there are official statistics of this nature. The state of alert, in place since last 14^th March, had caused the absolute lock-down of non-essential businesses, therefore sales of CD, vinyl and other physical carriers reduced to merely testimonial levels. Return to the so called "new normal" from 21^st June has allowed to get this Top 100 back, weekly published on Tuesday, once the small shops and large surfaces have been able to re-open and restock their shelves with new releases of last weeks.

Blending two charts

Top 100 Albums lives its re-releasing with the peculiarity of gathering, from this week, in a single chart both physical and digital sales, online albums and downloads, implementing to that purpose a series of formulas to homogenise data, already successfully in place in the United Kingdom and other main international markets. Following several weeks of internal tests, people in charge of preparing the weekly charts in Promusicae and AGEDI, who during the impasse announced to be working on the changes of Top 100, have ensured the good functioning of the system and that it is "perfectly prepared" to marry up sales figures of CD and vinyl, on payment and free streaming and digital downloads. Thus, these two charts, which so far gathered separately albums sales and streaming of albums, are now blended.  New chart reviews shall from now on promote a more comprehensive approach to the Spanish market as a whole, without the distortion derived from focussing the music consumption analysis on digital or physical only.

New Top 1

Data published today are the reflection of what happened in shops and in streaming services during week 27 of the year (from 26^th June to 2^nd July), the first week fully completed from the end of the extraordinary situation caused by the pandemic state of alert. As a curiosity in this historic first chart following the corona virus large impasse that determines the most important 100 albums of the moment in the Spanish market, the honour to hold the Top 1 position has been awarded to Anuel AA, and his album Emmanuel, who maintains the same position he had in the previous Streaming of Albums chart from the release of the album five weeks ago. The release of the first David Rees studio album (Amarillo) tops number 2. Closing the podium and charting directly to Top 3 are veteran Depeche Mode (Spirits in the forest), the live album containing the documentary film soundtrack presenting the last Berlin live concerts within their global tour Spirit Tour.

50% drop in sales

Antonio Guisasola, Promusicae's president, congratulates for the "return, hopefully for good and without new setbacks or sanitary misfortunes, of the entity's most representative chart", which comes together with the recovery of other two more specific charts, also suffering the closure of shops, the Top 20 DVD Chart and the Top 20 Compilations Chart. However, the top executive of the association wanted to express his "clear concern" on the "very severe economic consequences of the pandemic, as the phonographic industry is among those very directly damaged". Specifically, first accumulate physical sales figures in Spain during first half 2020 reflect a collapse close to 50% regarding the same period of last year. This virulent slump was easy to predict in the face of evidence that from 14^th March to the second week of June, the ability to purchase a CD or a vinyl was extremely difficult throughout the country.

The phonographic association trusts now that the success of streaming, very much consolidated until the COVID-19 changed our reality, allows "to mitigate the losses" during the second half of 2020, together with a progressive recovery of physical sales. "Now is a time to try to surmount and mitigate the brutal impact of this crisis, more over if we take into account that the recorded music sector, unlike other productive areas, keeps lacking of specific support from the Administration. Once again we will hope that the audience can give credit to our musicians and creators' daily work, and we gain back the normal consumption of recorded music" recapped Promusicae's president, Antonio Guisasola.

For more information:

Relabel Comunicación: 91 435 68 08

Email: prensa@relabel.net

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