The Official Charts Company has launched Official Charts PRO, a new intelligence platform designed to help labels, publishers, managers, distributors, and artists make more informed release and marketing decisions.
Described as the largest technology investment in the organization’s history, PRO opens more of the data behind the UK’s official charts to paying subscribers. The platform draws on information supplied directly by streaming services and retailers, covering more than 99% of UK music consumption.
Users can follow performance across artists and tracks, examine daily streaming activity and study wider changes in how music is being consumed. Customizable dashboards, automated reports and expanded search tools allow clients to analyze longer periods and compare campaigns.
PRO also includes an AI-powered Smart Insights feature that summarizes current chart and market performance. A separate Story Builder tool turns selected data into shareable presentations.
+Read more: "What’s in a Number? Why Music Charts Still Matter in the Streaming Era"
Physical Sales Still Create No. 1 Albums
Some of the initial data released alongside PRO underlines how much physical products continue to matter, particularly when an album is competing for the top of the chart.
According to the Official Charts Company, 65% of the albums that reached No. 1 in the UK during 2025 did so in a week when physical formats accounted for the majority of their chart units. Across all of the year’s No. 1 albums, physical sales generated an average of 60% of first-place chart units.
Physical formats also accounted for more than 20% of the total chart units generated by Taylor Swift, Sam Fender and Oasis during the year. The average among 2025’s Top 20 acts was 11%. That makes vinyl, CDs and other physical editions more than fan merchandise. For artists capable of organizing preorders, limited editions or direct-to-fan campaigns, they can become a strategic part of a concentrated chart push.
New Artists Are Still Reaching the Top 20
The company’s figures also provide some encouragement for developing artists. One-third of the UK’s Top 20 singles of 2025 came from artists who had begun releasing music within the previous five years. Meanwhile, the proportion of Top 20 artists whose first charting single had arrived during the previous three years increased from 10% in 2023 to 30% in 2025.
Those numbers do not erase the discovery challenges facing independent and emerging artists. They do suggest, however, that the upper reaches of the UK singles chart have not become entirely closed to newer voices.
PRO arrives as artists and their teams are being asked to make increasingly complicated decisions about release timing, formats and marketing budgets. More detailed data can help — but access to that intelligence will itself become another campaign expense, particularly for smaller operations.
Official Charts PRO launches with UK and Irish music data. UK home entertainment data will follow on September 24. Subscription plans will be available for businesses of different sizes, although public pricing was not included in the launch announcement. More information and demonstration bookings are available through the Official Charts PRO website.
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