Crazy times for music charts

Monday, 03, Apr 2006 04:59

Gone are the days of a single getting to number one in the charts on the back of the kids queuing up outside record stores, as the success of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy appears to prove.

The track has entered the UK charts at number one, becoming the first single to reach the top spot solely through the sale of digital downloads.

Having only hit the shops in physical form today, Gnarls' success is down to a recent change in regulations which means that charts now take into account downloaded single sales due for CD release the following week.

Crazy is a collaboration between producer Danger Mouse, Brian Burton and vocalist Thomas Calloway and gained notoriety after being featured in television adverts for Zane Lowe's Radio One show.

The song was downloaded more than 31,000 times last week and analysts predict it could become one of the year's top sellers if sales in the real world follow the path trodden in the virtual one.

"This not only represents a watershed in how the charts are compiled, but shows that legal downloads have come of age," Gennaro Castaldo, from record store HMV, said.

But he added a, perhaps forlorn, word of hope for sellers of the physical format, saying: "It is an outstanding single so I don't think we are going to see this happening with a song every week."