UK Official Download Chart

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Part of a series of articles on British music

BPI • OCC
Charts Singles chart (#1s; Records) Albums chart (#1s) Download chart (#1s)
Awards BRIT Awards • Mercury Prize NME Awards
Periods Pre-1950 • 1950s & 60s 1970s • 1980s 1990s - Present
Origins and influences Overview England • Scotland • Wales Ireland • Caribbean
Genres Classical • Britpop • Brithop Opera • Rock • Jazz
Major music publications NME • Melody Maker Music Week • Record Collector Record Mirror • Record Retailer Smash Hits • Sounds Q • Kerrang! • fRoots
Other links Bands • Musicians Festivals • Venues
Timeline 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • (full list)
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The UK Official Download Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the music industry. The chart week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday, with the chart being compiled on a Wednesday afternoon; however, the chart is aired initially 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. Only the Top 10 downloads are aired on the show. The main chart contains the Top 40 downloads; however, usually only the Top 20 are of main interest. The chart only uses sales of 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.

[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 September 1, 2004. 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 April 17, 2005, the official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as well as physical sales in an attempt to boost flagging single sales. The first ever Number one download single was a live version of Westlife's Flying Without Wings (live version). 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.