UK's Official Trending Chart celebrates first birthday 06 Mar 2017
Announces MTV broadcast partnership and expanded streaming service exposure
A data-driven hit predictor - 80% of Trending Chart Number 1s became Top 10 hits
The UK's Official Trending Chart is celebrating its first birthday this month, with the news that it is set to become the subject of a new show on MTV UK.
The chart, compiled by the Official Charts Company and published weekly on OfficialCharts.com, is designed to highlight the hottest new emerging hits every week and has established an 80% strike rate over the past year. It will be the focus of the new one-hour Official Trending Chart countdown. The show will premiere on MTV Hits each Tuesday at 7pm, before then being re-broadcast 11 more times through each week.
In addition, the chart will be the focus of a roll-out of Official Charts on streaming services over the coming month, across Spotify, Deezer, Napster and Apple Music,
Already exposed to up to 3 million unique users per month on OfficialCharts.com, the MTV roll-out will begin from 7 March - premiering at 7pm Tuesdays on MTV Hits, with further broadcasts scheduled across MTV Hits, MTV Music and Viva from Tuesdays to Fridays each week.
The new exposure will be further extended as part of Official Charts' roll-out of its brand presence on UK streaming services. The Official Chart, will be made available officially for the first time across Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, and Napster from this coming month.
In addition, the Official Chart team's data-driven curation will power a selection of weekly updated playlists, including the Official Singles Chart (Fridays), Official Trending Chart (Tuesdays). Providing a weekly nostalgia fix, every Thursday the Official Chart Flashback will travel back to the chart on this week in history.
Plus, the first ever Official playlist of Every Official Number 1 Single Ever will also be launched – 1,300 chart-topping songs, in chronological order, starting at Al Martino's 1952 hit Here In My Heart, through to (currently) Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You.
A data-driven hit predictor, discovering future chart smashes before they happen
The move to make the Official Trending Chart a core playlist will be part of an ongoing drive to support new and breaking talent.
Launched one year ago, the Official Trending Chart was devised as a data-driven means of highlighting the hottest new tracks beginning to make an impact in the UK. Coming as a response to the shifting patterns of releases in the streaming era that typically sees releases now enter the Official Chart lower down before ascending to their eventual chart peak over the course of several weeks.
Since then, the chart has proven to be a highly successful predictor of hits – published halfway through the week, the chart specifically spotlights tracks that are yet to break the Official Singles Chart Top 10, but showing signs of week on week chart position growth, ranked by sales and audio streams.
In the first year of the new rundown, topping the Official Trending Chart has meant:
· The track has an 8 in 10 chance of becoming a Top 10 smash on the main Official Chart
· More than half (59%) will hit the Top 5
· You've got a virtually guaranteed Top 20 hit on your hands – 96% of Trending Chart winners went on to peak inside the Official Singles Chart Top 20
· 60% of Official Chart Number 1s across the last 12 months had previously topped the Official Trending Chart earlier in their release journey
Example trending tracks showcased by the Official Trending Chart since launch:
· Mike Posner's I Took A Pill In Ibiza - crowned Number 1 on the Official Trending Chart in early March 2016 as it went on a seven-week climb to Number 1 on the main Official Singles Chart where it then stayed for four weeks.
· Chainsmokers ft. Halsey's Closer – this summer anthem was earmarked for success when it became Trending Chart Number 1 in mid-August, before rising to the top of the Official Singles Chart in September, a whole five weeks after it first entered the Top 100.
· Other trending tracks flagged early by the chart include Neiked's Sexual, Calum Scott's Dancing On My Own, James Arthur's Say You Won't Let Go, The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk's Starboy and Zara Larsson's breakthrough solo single Lush Life.
Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot comments:
"We are delighted that MTV has decided to support the Official Trending Chart after its first year, and join us in our ongoing efforts to support the breaking of new hit records and new talent in the UK. Our move to also focus on streaming playlists provide a further opportunity to bring this exciting weekly chart to life for the millions of consumers accessing the growing band of streaming services in the market."
MTV's Senior Music Commissioning Editor Jeremy Davies adds:
"Our viewers love the Official Charts so we are delighted to exclusively reveal the Official Trending Chart on our Channels. It promises to be a real showcase for future hits and rising stars".
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