Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigtop
^ Just to let all of you know, they've been doing this since last December.
So what's the purpose of Oricon's combined rankings after all?
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Yeah, I was trying to find a publish date on that explanation page to no avail since most of the press releases didn’t include their calculation methods. I didn’t know how the points worked until I found that explanation, so I thought it’d be best to share it for the other (now previously) uninformed people.
From what
this blog entry seems to surmise, it was not only to combine the charts (because they can), but most likely to try to give more clout to the digital platforms that Billboard is already doing. The overall decline in CD sales must have also prompted them to figure out how to help out numbers—V6 had gotten number one this past week with just under 100K via CDs only, but a far cry from the numbers we used to see back in the heyday of the forum. Haha. The author surmises three points:
1) The possibility Oricon just wanted to refresh the charts, and decided to do this to retain its clout,
2) The possibility for record companies to keep more detailed track of sales/records as verified by another statistician, and
3) For artists who may do well in one type of sales (e.g. idols in the CD sales, indies and more self-produced artists in the digital/streaming markets), they could retain their records or claim to fame with a number one in the streaming or download charts, and a possible top ten in the combined chart.
They also point out the possibility in Oricon contacting each record company to let them know/get their blessing in combining the charts, but in turn some record companies wanted to ensure CD sales counted for more than digital platforms. Thus even though they’re combined, the digital sales/stream numbers are quite high to equal a singular CD sale.
So in short, no one knows. Haha.