Music Commission News

Beginning this Friday December 1, the weekly Official New Zealand Music Charts will be published at 4pm on Friday afternoons.

The Top 40 Albums and Singles Charts, along with a suite of other music charts, have been published at 10am on Saturday mornings since July 2019.

The return to a traditional Friday unveiling means the weekend can get off to the right start for the artists, labels and music fans waiting to hear where their latest releases have landed before heading home or setting up for Friday night shows.

It will also mean that the Official New Zealand Music Charts can go back to being the first national charts in the world to be published each week.

The prior decision to publish the Charts on Saturdays was dictated by the availability of data arriving from online platforms based in other time zones. Led by Director of Data & Analysis Paul Kennedy, the Charts and Data team has since been able to reduce delays and make system adjustments which now allow a faster rollout.

The Official NZ Music Charts have been an institution in Aotearoa since 1975 and are the only weekly snapshot of New Zealanders’ music consumption habits that takes into account physical and digital sales, audio and video streaming and in some cases – via the RadioScope charts – airplay, on all major platforms.

The weekly Charts will continue to be published at www.nztop40.co.nz. Nearly 50 years of Official Chart archives can be found there too.

Please direct any queries about the Official NZ Music Charts and/or submit data to the team via data@recordedmusic.co.nz