Mediatraffic album chart Methodologies

[STING2]

I don't know how long this has been posted at Mediatraffic, but this officially how they do the album chart. Its not all exact retail sales as we had thought.

"Chart Methodologies
Album-Chart
THE TOP-SELLING ALBUMS ACCORDING TO GLOBAL SALES DATA AND NATIONAL ALBUM-CHARTS
OFFICIAL NATIONAL CHARTS FROM USA, JAPAN, UNITED KINGDOM, GERMANY, AND FRANCE WITH REAL SALES DATA
OFFICIAL NATIONAL CHARTS FROM CANADA, AUSTRALIA, ITALY, SPAIN, BRAZIL, MEXICO, NETHERLANDS, SWITZERLAND, BELGIUM, SOUTH AFRICA, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, NORWAY, DENMARK, FINLAND, IRELAND, ARGENTINA, CHILE, COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA, NEW ZEALAND, MALAYSIA, POLAND, PORTUGAL, HUNGARY, CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA, GREECE, AND SOUTH KOREA ARE WEIGHTED TO THE SIZE OF ITS MARKETS ACCORDING TO THE LATEST IFPI-STATISTICS
(EXCEPTION: ALBUMS WITH HUGH SALES IN THESE COUNTRIES ARE WEIGHTED HIGHER)"

It appears that the only soundscan type info they use comes from USA, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. For the rest of the world, they use a formula based on chart position and the size of the country/market.

I still think they are somewhat accurate, but its not quite the precise source we thought it was. Still, when compared to certifications of various albums around the world, I think they have done a better job with their estimates than any other chart I have seen.

[MJDangerous]

Sting Mediatraffic have not soundscan type info for France.

[STING2]

Originally posted by MJDangerous
Sting Mediatraffic have not soundscan type info for France.

hmm, well above they claim that they have "real sales data" for the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany. Do you work for Mediatraffic?

[MJDangerous]

Originally posted by STING2


hmm, well above they claim that they have "real sales data" for the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany. Do you work for Mediatraffic?

No but I read their chart lol.

This week Charts In France site has not put online sales of the top 3 albums as usual. In the meditraffic chart, "Les Enfoirés" have sold only 75.000 copies this week according to them. Their "real" sales was 150k last week so without info this week they have "cut" 50% the usual drop in a second week.
But the problem, it's that "Les Enfoirés" was released Saturday of the last week, it sold 142k in one day in France (the rest in Belgium). So it has not drop of 50%.
I have not the real sales of this week, I will get them at the beginning of the next week, but I can support that Les Enfoirés have sold a minimum of 110k in France, way higher than the 75k according to Mediatraffic.

This prove that they work only with the data avalaible online for everyone like I have said many times ago.

[STING2]

Originally posted by MJDangerous

No but I read their chart lol.

This week Charts In France site has not put online sales of the top 3 albums as usual. In the meditraffic chart, "Les Enfoirés" have sold only 75.000 copies this week according to them. Their "real" sales was 150k last week so without info this week they have "cut" 50% the usual drop in a second week.
But the problem, it's that "Les Enfoirés" was released Saturday of the last week, it sold 142k in one day in France (the rest in Belgium). So it has not drop of 50%.
I have not the real sales of this week, I will get them at the beginning of the next week, but I can support that Les Enfoirés have sold a minimum of 110k in France, way higher than the 75k according to Mediatraffic.

This prove that they work only with the data avalaible online for everyone like I have said many times ago.

So why does mediatraffic say that their sales from France are "real sales data"?

[MJDangerous]

Originally posted by STING2


So why does mediatraffic say that their sales from France are "real sales data"?

I don't know, maybe for them sales of the top 3 is equal to sales of every album...

[edge3]

Originally posted by MJDangerous
Sting Mediatraffic have not soundscan type info for France.

Well they did for HTDAAB : 90,000 in their chart news headlines...

& that recent Johnny Hallyday album - from their chart news headlines in Nov 2005 :

+++ french rock-veteran Johnny Hallyday's 'Ma Vérité' bows at no.5 (217.000 copies) +++

I think i remember you saying it did 205k for that 1st week in France MJ, so 217k for that week overall seemed/still seems correct.

[MJDangerous]

Originally posted by edge3


Well they did for HTDAAB : 90,000 in their chart news headlines...

& that recent Johnny Hallyday album - from their chart news headlines in Nov 2005 :

+++ french rock-veteran Johnny Hallyday's 'Ma Vérité' bows at no.5 (217.000 copies) +++

I think i remember you saying it did 205k for that 1st week in France MJ, so 217k for that week overall seemed/still seems correct.

I have said that they use informations from Chart in France forum. Check it and you will found those sales figures too, this don't mean that you have access to 'soundscan' sales data in France.

[STING2]

Originally posted by MJDangerous

I have said that they use informations from Chart in France forum. Check it and you will found those sales figures too, this don't mean that you have access to 'soundscan' sales data in France.

Why would they report that they have such information if they in fact don't? Finding what you see is a discrepancy does not prove that they don't have soundscan figures for France.

[MJDangerous]

Originally posted by STING2


Why would they report that they have such information if they in fact don't? Finding what you see is a discrepancy does not prove that they don't have soundscan figures for France.

So, why are they explain at Edge one year ago that they have sales data for ALL countries ?
I have debate at this moment in the UKmix forum with Edge arguing that Mediatraffic use a point system for nearly all countries except those where sales are known, he has said that Mediatraffic have support to him in mail that they don't use a such system but real sales. Obviously now we know that it's not true. About French sales this is the same thing, Les Enfoirés sold much more than 75000 this week in France which prove that they don't have this data.
In most, any service can give this data in France which is very closed. I'm am actually the one who publish many informations about real French sales and I have tons of problems with Warner and the IFOP. I really doubt that they send to an unofficial site like Mediatraffic the real sales...

[edge3]

Originally posted by MJDangerous

So, why are they explain at Edge one year ago that they have sales data for ALL countries ?
I have debate at this moment in the UKmix forum with Edge arguing that Mediatraffic use a point system for nearly all countries except those where sales are known, he has said that Mediatraffic have support to him in mail that they don't use a such system but real sales. Obviously now we know that it's not true. About French sales this is the same thing, Les Enfoirés sold much more than 75000 this week in France which prove that they don't have this data.
In most, any service can give this data in France which is very closed. I'm am actually the one who publish many informations about real French sales and I have tons of problems with Warner and the IFOP. I really doubt that they send to an unofficial site like Mediatraffic the real sales...

I actually now think they were being somewhat hyperbolic...

Originally posted by STING2
I don't know how long this has been posted at Mediatraffic, but this officially how they do the album chart. Its not all exact retail sales as we had thought.

"Chart Methodologies
Album-Chart
THE TOP-SELLING ALBUMS ACCORDING TO GLOBAL SALES DATA AND NATIONAL ALBUM-CHARTS
OFFICIAL NATIONAL CHARTS FROM USA, JAPAN, UNITED KINGDOM, GERMANY, AND FRANCE WITH REAL SALES DATA
OFFICIAL NATIONAL CHARTS FROM CANADA, AUSTRALIA, ITALY, SPAIN, BRAZIL, MEXICO, NETHERLANDS, SWITZERLAND, BELGIUM, SOUTH AFRICA, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, NORWAY, DENMARK, FINLAND, IRELAND, ARGENTINA, CHILE, COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA, NEW ZEALAND, MALAYSIA, POLAND, PORTUGAL, HUNGARY, CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA, GREECE, AND SOUTH KOREA ARE WEIGHTED TO THE SIZE OF ITS MARKETS ACCORDING TO THE LATEST IFPI-STATISTICS
(EXCEPTION: ALBUMS WITH HUGH SALES IN THESE COUNTRIES ARE WEIGHTED HIGHER)"

It appears that the only soundscan type info they use comes from USA, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. For the rest of the world, they use a formula based on chart position and the size of the country/market.

I still think they are somewhat accurate, but its not quite the precise source we thought it was. Still, when compared to certifications of various albums around the world, I think they have done a better job with their estimates than any other chart I have seen.

Well surely this proves that, since they started showing the figures, they have changed their system (which is why their weekly sales for #'s 40, 30, 15, etc have been so much higher than those for throughout 2005).

[STING2]

Originally posted by edge3


I actually now think they were being somewhat hyperbolic...



Well surely this proves that, since they started showing the figures, they have changed their system (which is why their weekly sales for #'s 40, 30, 15, etc have been so much higher than those for throughout 2005).

It looks like the only roughly reliable way to get a quick gauge of global sales is still through RIAA and IFPI certifications. Mediatraffic is not bad, but their not what I thought they were. Their still estimating sales mainly as opposed to simply reporting hard data, which is what I thought they had converted to in April of 2004.

[edge3]

Originally posted by STING2


It looks like the only roughly reliable way to get a quick gauge of global sales is still through RIAA and IFPI certifications. Mediatraffic is not bad, but their not what I thought they were. Their still estimating sales mainly as opposed to simply reporting hard data, which is what I thought they had converted to in April of 2004.

It seems that it's near impossible to get actual hard weekly sales data from all those 23 or so countries. Overall though i think they do a bloody good job.

[MJDangerous]

Originally posted by MJDangerous
Les Enfoirés sold much more than 75000 this week in France which prove that they don't have this data.

Well, I have sales of the last week for "Les Enfoirés" in France : 134.000 copies sold.
So yes now we can be sure that mediatraffic don't get real sales in France. Even this week, Les Enfoirés sold 108.000 copies.

[MJDangerous]

7 6 / -
week 2 Les Enfoirés - Le Village Des Enfoirés 2006
Universal Music France - 149.000

Mediatraffic have changed now their sales figures for the album, just 1 day after that Charts In France has posted sales of the top 3. The same thing arrived last summer when the French Celine Dion's Best of was released, they have claimed that this was a "coputer mistake".
It's the prove that Mediatraffic is definitivly not official but really one people who takes all informations avalaible in the net to do this chart. Maybe we know him from chart forums...

Still that Mediatraffic is one of the rare source of official sales based only on charts/sales, which is consequently objective in their sales so this is great.

All this show also that Mediatraffic's owner is following the new informations in the net which permit him to be more and more accurate which is also a good point.

[edge3]

Originally posted by MJDangerous
7 6 / -
week 2 Les Enfoirés - Le Village Des Enfoirés 2006
Universal Music France - 149.000

Mediatraffic have changed now their sales figures for the album, just 1 day after that Charts In France has posted sales of the top 3. The same thing arrived last summer when the French Celine Dion's Best of was released, they have claimed that this was a "coputer mistake".
It's the prove that Mediatraffic is definitivly not official but really one people who takes all informations avalaible in the net to do this chart. Maybe we know him from chart forums...

Still that Mediatraffic is one of the rare source of official sales based only on charts/sales, which is consequently objective in their sales so this is great.

All this show also that Mediatraffic's owner is following the new informations in the net which permit him to be more and more accurate which is also a good point.

Seems they've got it right this week : # 5 with 121k. lol

[MJDangerous]

Again Charts In France have not updated the sales of the top 3 albums, and immediatly Mediatraffic are wrong. "Les Fleurs Du Bien" by Pascal Obispo sold 56.886 copies this week in France and it is not charted in the top 40 worldwide (the last of the chart has sold 45k).

[edge3]

Originally posted by MJDangerous
Again Charts In France have not updated the sales of the top 3 albums, and immediatly Mediatraffic are wrong. "Les Fleurs Du Bien" by Pascal Obispo sold 56.886 copies this week in France and it is not charted in the top 40 worldwide (the last of the chart has sold 45k).

Well HitList world chart this week has that at # 38 with 38,700... but far far worse than this has to be both Mediatraffic & HitList totally missing 1st week Japan sales for Stadium Arcadium of 139k (HitList had it at # 44 with 39,300).