SA: RiSA launches official digital streaming charts

The charts aim to spotlight popular music being consumed on music streaming platforms across the country, and will first focus on singles.

TOSAC boasts two charts: Weekly TOP 200 Tracks, which includes the top local and international songs; and Weekly TOP 100 Local ZA Tracks, which features songs with at least one credited artist from South Africa. The charts are now live can be accessed on TOSAC’s official website.

“We are incredibly excited to be launching such a pioneering platform for the South African music industry and audiences, across different genres,” RiSA chairperson Sean Watson said. “This represents a significant milestone and a much-needed step up to aligning with popular forms of music consumption for the local music industry.”

To ensure accuracy and broad representation, RiSA says the charts will aggregate data from the most popular platforms used by local listeners such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music.

The charts will be aggregated weekly from Friday to Thursday, and only digital streaming numbers will be considered. The number of streams shown in the charts will be weighted so that paid subscription streams have more relevance than ad-supported streams. No track exclusion policy or accelerated decline method is being applied.

Different versions of a track will be aggregated to their corresponding original track, which is, radio edits, same song with additional artists, DJs remixes – as long as the original artist is credited, different language or country versions. Album covers will not be aggregated to the original track.

“We have also seen an undeniable shift in how people consume music in the past few years, with more and more audiences making use of streaming services than before,” RiSA CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi said. “We are thus excited to put in place an offering that not only recognises that but is set to help drive the growth of our industry … The charts will provide music fans, artists and record labels with a window into music streaming in one of the world’s most vibrant and dynamic markets.

“Our intention is to provide all South African music enthusiasts and general consumers with a platform that they can own and one that reflects their own relationship with local and international music and their consumption patterns, irrespective of their taste in music. We also plan to consistently develop the TOSAC platform and tailor it to accommodate our constantly changing consumer needs.”