Overview and the OCC Chart Rules

Each week, Millward Brown and the OCC count the number of units sold for digital singles, digital albums, CDs, vinyl, and video singles. For Topspin to report a sale to the OCC, there are a set of requirements based on the OCC Chart Rules. Full text of the rules can be downloaded from the OCC website here.

Only sales to UK-based customers are eligible, and there are rules regarding format, pricing, packaging, bundling with merchandise, competitions, combining sales, and preorder incentives. 

It’s also worth noting that for a sale to be reported, the following must occur:

• Digital: a sale is complete once the financial transaction and the download have taken place
• Physical: a sale is complete once the financial transaction has taken place and the product has been shipped

Because the download/shipping must occur for a sale to be reported, preorders will not be reported until street date.  Please note that for physical sales to be reported to the OCC, you must use Topspin Fulfilment: UK.

Artist Checklist – Chart Eligibility

The following is a summary of the OCC Chart Rules. Please do not take it as a definitive guide – the full text of the rules can be downloaded here and should be consulted in all cases. This summary is intended as an overview checklist only. 

First and foremost, for sales of albums and singles to be chart eligible, they must be a genuine purchase by a genuine consumer. 

1 What is the product? – Single/Album Price, Configuration and Packaging

• Physical products include:
  • Albums – minimum dealer price £3.76
• LP/CD/DVD/HD DVD/BLU RAY/MD/SACD/Dualdisc/CD-DVD SETS/Standard DMD (max 512mb)
  • Duration of over 25 minutes, or more than four songs
• Singles
  • 7” – minimum dealer price £0.50
  • 12” – minimum dealer price £1.99
  • Duration of maximum 25 minutes, no more than four songs
  • Remix single – 12”: minimum dealer price £1.99
  • Duration of maximum 40 minutes, one song title and any number of remixes of that featured title to a maximum of 40 minutes
• Packaging for physical products must have no value in its own right and no use other than to contain recording. Consult OCC if you are unsure. Permitted inserts must be contained within the packaging and include:
  • One poster, can be double-sided; and/or
  • Cards, 2 sided with no folds; and/or
  • Booklets; and/or
  • Stickers, one sheet without folds
  • NB for singles, only ONE of the above is permitted per product
• Digital products
  • Digital Album – minimum dealer price £3.76
• Duration of over 25 minutes, or more than four songs
  • Digital audio track – minimum dealer price £0.40
• Duration of maximum 15 minutes, one audio track
  • Digital single bundle – minimum dealer price £0.40
• Duration of maximum 25 minutes, no more than four songs
  • Remix single – digital: minimum price £0.40
• Duration of maximum 40 minutes, none song title and any number of remixes of that featured title to a maximum of 40 minutes
• Physical and Digital Album multi-format packages
  • Minimum dealer price must be 20% uplift on standard CD album published dealer price
  • Package offers containing more than one chart eligible album must have their component albums simultaneously available for separate purchase

2 Bundling an album with merchandise? - Album & Merchandise Packages

• Increased minimum dealer prices apply:
  • Low value items (eg wristbands, badges, patches, keyrings): at least 20% higher than dealer price of full price standard album format
  • High value items (eg t-shirts): at least 80% higher than dealer price of full price standard album format
• Items must be packaged together
• Merchandise must be artist-branded or otherwise clearly related to the artist (or label, for non-artist albums)
• Packages must carry a unique barcode
• Packages may not include tickets to live events or access experiences
• Prior written approval must be obtained from OCC for all album and merchandise packages prior to production to ensure chart eligibility

3 Taking care of Catalogue IDs, Barcodes and ISRCs

• All physical formats require:
  • A unique catalogue ID, which relates to a unique barcode
  • This applies even for identical recordings with different packaging or colour variations
• All digital formats require:
  • A unique barcode
  • ISRCs for individual tracks
• Ensure that all your barcodes and ISRCs are registered with Millward Brown

4 Competitions, Vouchers, Retailer Promotions

• Competition entry must not be included with any single or album release, whether digital or physical
• Exclusive vouchers giving discounts on other goods and services or exclusive access to such goods and services are considered free gifts and ineligible for inclusion in the chart
• Entry into a competition must not be dependent on the purchase of specific albums
• For digital formats, purchasers should not be automatically entered into a competition upon purchase

5 Combining sales

• When the same single or album is available on UK release from two different companies, sales will not be combined except at the request of both companies
• Singles
  • Sales of maximum 3 physical formats maybe combined
  • For digital audio tracks, sales of unlimited digital variants or alternative versions may be combined
  • For digital single bundles, sales of maximum 3 digital bundles may be combined
  • Imported singles will not be chart eligible whilst a similar or identical UK release is in the Top 75
• Albums
  • Unlimited number of physical and digital formats may be combined for chart placing provided they adhere to all eligibility rules
  • Alternative versions (deluxe, reissues) must contain at least 80% crossover content with the standard album version
  • Additional content on an alternative version must not be available as a separate product
  • Multiple format albums/box sets featuring the same album title (ie digital + physical) are eligible and will constitute a single sale, provided there is a minimum 20% uplift on standard dealer price
  • Multiple format albums/box sets featuring different album titles are eligible in their own right and will not be combined with one of their constituent items

6 Preorder incentives

• One digital track is permitted as instant gratification for the preorder of an album release and must be reported to the OCC as a promotional download
• Digital tracks are not permitted as instant gratification for the preorder of a single release
• A free permanent download of an album provided as a preorder incentive is not permitted and will render the album ineligible; however access to a pre-release stream or timed-out download of some or all album tracks is permissible

7 Origin of sale/point of sale

• Only sales to UK based customers will be chart-eligible
• For physical products, sales should be from UK based sites to UK based customers

 Setting up with Topspin

In order for Topspin to report your digital sales, you’ll need to first ensure that your offers comply with the OCC chart rules, and we’ll need to verify this.  Please allow 5 working days for standard product offerings, and 15 working days for non-standard configurations.

We’ll need you to supply the following information for the products (download template file below):

• Artist ID
• Artist Name
• Product Title
• Campaign ID (located in the purchase button details: Campaign Settings panel)
• Indicate whether the product is digital or physical
• Barcode/ISRC
• Retail price
• Registered Dealer Price
• Street Date

Please send the completed information spreadsheet to jessie@topspinmedia.com. If we need further information with regard to chart eligibility, we’ll let you know. For non-standard releases, please bear in mind that this may take some weeks to determine through liaison with the OCC. 

Does Topspin register my UPCs or ISRCs with Millward Brown?

No. Please contact Mark Moist at Millward Brown to enquire about registering your products. It is your responsibility to ensure that your UPCs and ISRCs are correctly registered and are the right codes for your products. 

What if I don’t have an ISRC or UPC already?

If you need an ISRC, please contact PPL 
If you need a UPC, please contact a digital distributor.