Pet Shop Boys Community

I presume that if you download the album as a whole (i.e. with a single click) the sale of those individual tracks will not count towards the singles chart. If it did, then a big new album release could realistically occupy the whole top 10 of the singles chart with its tracks! However, if people choose to download tracks individually, then these tracks will count towards the singles chart.

The new rules may make life very difficult for the radio stations - it is entirely possible that a new number one "single" could appear from nowhere - maybe immediately after its use in a TV show, advert, sporting occasion etc. - and then radio programmers will have to quickly adapt playlists in response.

In my opinion the charts will become a total farce with, potentially, a top 40 with 40 songs completely different from the previous week. It will also make the charts pointless because people won't be able to keep up with such rapid changes week-in, week-out. As well as that, it doesn't give artists much incentive to release a "proper" single if it can't perform well because of all the random tracks which will clog the charts up. Also, with such fast changes, the chances are that that record will be out of the top 40 - and off major radio stations playlists within a couple of weeks of release. Again, where is the incentive to release a single with all the costs associated with it if it's going to disappear again very quickly?