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Music charts will show how often songs are PLAYED in new format for a digital age

By Mark Blunden
Updated: 07:50 EST, 24 September 2008

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Chart-topper: US singer Katy Perry. The charts could soon be based on how often a song is played

A shake-up of the music charts will measure the number of times a song is played.

At the moment, the Official Charts Company records physical and digital sales but will now include 'all you can eat' subscriptions services, such as Napster and the Vodafone MusicStation.

Digital sales are already far outstripping physical, but now the popularity of the subscription services - where people pay for unlimited access to millions of tracks - is set to soar, forcing the rethink to count how many times a song is played.

Now that internet service providers have agreed to crack down on illegal downloading, record labels are collaborating with them to offer music bundles through broadband and mobile phones.

This year, Nokia will launch an unlimited music service for an annual one-off payment of £100 to £300. iTunes is expected to follow suit.

Martin Talbot, of OCC, said: 'The music industry will be able to use [the chart] to promote legitimate use of the music subscription services.'

Digital sales are now far outstripping physical sales, leading call for a re-vamp of the way in which the charts are recorded - in terms of number of plays than sales