The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) is aiming to include download sales in its weekly singles chart from this summer.
The news comes just weeks after the British singles chart saw the first-ever number one from download sales alone.
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley has spent three weeks at the top spot there although it was only released on CD two weeks ago.
The British singles charts have included downloads in their calculations since last April. Clive Leacy, secretary of IRMA, said that the association was currently conducting tests using sample data to ensure that the new format could be incorporated into the system flawlessly.
The above is taken from my article on the topic in todays Sunday Business Post.
It’s good news for the download market in Ireland, which is going from strength to strength but at the same time the move by IRMA was inevitable as single sales have been going through hard times over the last few years for many reasons, with downloads likely to take an even more important role as time goes by. One figure of interest that got to me too late for inclusion in the piece was that online downloads now account for around 40% of the British singles charts, I wonder if the same will happen this time next year on our shores.