The first music chart to include internet downloads was revealed this weekend, providing less of a surprise than some industry figures expected.
The half-century-old UK Singles Chart saw Tony Christie and Peter Kay's charity single Show Me The Way To Amarillo hug the top spot for the fifth week, apparently unaffected by the inclusion of the internet downloads.
Predictions that the downloads would shake up the positioning of chart singles, perhaps opening the way for more independent music, looked shaky as the charts were unveiled.
"The inclusion of downloads may not prove as dramatic as some commentators have suggested, at least for now," Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for music retailer HMV, told Metro.
"Most download purchases are likely to be spread over a broad range of songs and styles of music," he added.
The Association of Independent Music also complained to the Office of Fair Trading before the first chart including downloads was launched, arguing that the legal download formats such as iTunes used to compile the charts do not fairly represent non-mainstream singles.
The decision to include downloads followed a boom in the internet music download trend as demand rose in tune with sales of Apple's hugely successful iPod among other mp3 players.
Single sales rocketed to 300,000 a week compared with 20,000 at this time last year.
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