The sales rankings in Italy created by FIMI (Italian Music Industry Federation) with GfKthose which, on a weekly basis, allow us to see who is going up and who is going down in terms of sales (now increasingly streaming) of physical and digital albums but also, and above all, of singles.
To be more precise, however, in the case of individuals we cannot talk about a real sale because the calculation system adopted by Italian Music Industry Federation takes into account almost exclusively the reproductions of the songs streamed on the various platforms, Spotify first of all.
SALES RANKINGS: the FIMI methodological note
On the official website of the Federation, in the section Top Of The Music we find the methodological note which officially establishes how many streaming reproductions are needed to make a single sale calculable, as if it were a download iTunes to make it simpler.
This is the definition:
The methodology used to include streams in the Singles charts involves the following: 1 digital download = 180 premium streaming listens and 1,260 ad-supported listens (i.e. listens using the free versions of the streaming platforms).
Now, the focal point of the discussion is that the sales ranking of singles is based, nowadays, almost exclusively on streaming reproduction and, in Italy, the most used platform is Spotify.
Then, cascading Spotify it is used mostly by a predominantly young age group who tend to reward the songs contained in the Friday album-event on a weekly basis.
This ensures that those songs are played seamlessly and, consequently, reach very high numbers in the first few days.
Up to this point there would be nothing wrong, of course, if it weren't for the fact that streaming doesn't reward fairness but rather quantity. To be clear, if there are 20 songs in the album-event of the week, it doesn't matter whether among those 20 there are intros, outros or interludes because everything is calculated, everything finds space and everything has margin to enter the ranking FIMI.
This involves two things:
The first is that the ranking automatically loses its value because not only singles are counted but everything that lasts longer than 30 seconds.
The second is that space is taken away, in the first week of release, from potential songs by established or emerging artists who only release one song but who find themselves bypassed only because on the other hand they are fighting with an entire album-event worth 15/20 songs, perhaps even full of collaborations.
Recent examples of sales rankings
We have had practical examples every single week for a few years now. To mention the most recent ones, just think of Milan Angels Of Shivawhose songs occupied the Top20 with everything, even commas, on First Friday. It can be quoted Anna with Vera Baddie, Lazza with Locura, Boss Plaza with Wounds and so on until we get to this Friday with Night Skinny and his Containers.
Skinny he released an album that reached the first position in the dedicated chart, that of albums, as it was and rightly so, but he placed 10 songs in the Top 20 singles. Ten.
The single extracted, however, given that we are talking about the 'Singles' chart, is only one (“Good Girl“, finished 18th) while all the others are songs from an album that have life thanks to Spotify.
When, before, we said that this method takes away space from others, there are two examples that we can give with big names but, be careful, the concept can and MUST be extended to all emerging potentials on the verge of entering the Top100.
The release week of Locura Of Lazza, Tananai released his single Spiders which, seven days later, made its debut at #32. Before him, however, there were almost all the rapper's songs and this potentially prevented Tananai to be able to make his debut in the Top20.
Same thing this week with Ghali And Night Skinny. Ghali entered the charts at #19 with “Don't Panic” but, if it had been calculated only in single of Night Skinny he would have made his debut in a completely different way and this would also have allowed him to play a different card in public communication.
The case of penalized emerging artists
Now, translate this discussion to emerging artists who aspire to reach even just position 98, 99 or 100 with their debut single in order to then be able to exploit the news to promote themselves. With this methodology they are prevented, their legs are mercilessly cut off.
A single against an entire album of non-singles which however all make their entry into the Top100, effectively neutering between 15 and 20 positions for as many other singles.
A single that could change the life and destiny of many young emerging artists versus an album that has one, at most two or three singles, but which is doped only for hype and which is not contained in any way.
Sales charts: How England tackled the problem
In England this problemevident and objective, was contained in a very simple way: in the rankings there can only be the three most streamed songs of an entire album, one of which necessarily corresponds to the official launch single.
Why did they do it in England and in Italy, instead, do we have to see enthusiastic posts with the TOP20 dominated by a single name, for no reason?
Another hypothetical solution (which will never be taken into consideration because let alone) is to divide the singles ranking in two. One with reference to the total reproduction of streaming and one that takes into consideration only the singles actually launched on the market via digital postcard and pitch for the platforms.
The real question is only one: why in years, not weeks or days, but rather years, no one has ever said a word about this problem which, among other things, has already been discussed in other countries a long time ago and about which Has a solution even been found?
Can't, don't want to, or has it simply been overlooked?
