Friday 'best day' for Official Chart, because of weekend sales
- Published
The weekend has the "biggest" music sales, say the Official Charts, so it makes sense to have releases on Friday.
The countdown on Radio 1 is moving days, with 5 July being the last time it will be played out on a Sunday.
"It's a huge change for the chart," says Martin Talbot, the managing director of the Official Chart Company.
"It's been on a Sunday now since October 1987 but essentially it's moving to realign with the rest of the music industry," he tells Newsbeat.
It will now be fronted by Greg James on a Friday evening.
"I guess it fits in with that whole idea of spending your weekend entertaining yourself, listening to your favourite records, going to concerts."
Figures from the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), which represents the British music industry, support his theory, as 60% of consumers who buy or stream new music (who expressed a preference), prefer it to come out on a Saturday or Friday.
The most popular reasons include it being "the weekend" (36%), when they have "time to listen to new music" (26%) or time to go shopping or look online.
"We're very excited about it," says Mr Talbot. "It's when people start going out and celebrating. It's when artists actually will be able to celebrate all their efforts.
"We think it will really work... and give people the opportunity to start the weekend with a bang."
He says despite the Official Chart's longevity, it is just as "relevant" now as it has ever been.
"We're seeing more consumption of music now than we ever have done," he explains.
"The last five years have been among the biggest five years in history for single sales, almost double the sales that we were seeing in the late 1970s, which was the previous high."
Clara Amfo is stepping down as host of the show after it finishes airing on Sunday 5 July.
The Official Chart recently incorporated streaming as a measure of the success of a track and Mr Talbot describes the change as a way the Top 40 "keeps apace with the changing industry".
He adds: "The chart is a popularity poll.
"It takes the temperature of pop music every week and as long as it continues to track all the ways people consume music, I think it will continue to be relevant."
The last 18 months have seen some of the biggest changes in the history of the Official Charts - so what next for the Top 40?
"We might take a breather for a while, I think, and actually enjoy the chart on a Friday night," says Mr Talbot.
"Actually Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year, so this year's Christmas number one will also be announced on a Friday."
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