Official Charts Company Re-Launch UK's Independent Charts

• 15th Jun 2009

The UK’s Official Charts Company today announces that it will re-launch the UK’s Official Independent Charts, along with the addition of two new charts to support independent labels – brand new Independent Singles and Albums Breakers Charts. The Independent Charts – which have had a major re-vamp via a new set of criteria, focusing on independent ownership – and Breakers Charts will be officially launched on Monday 29th June.

The Independent Charts are a 30-year-old institution in the UK, supporting music from independently financed, produced and distributed artists and labels. This marks the first time in their three decades of history (the charts were first launched in the UK in 1978 by Iain McNay, the chairman of British independent label, Cherry Red Records), that the UK’s Independent Charts will have a major refresh.

The new look charts, based on new criteria for independence; replace the former focus on independent distribution. Under the new rules, a download or CD will be eligible for the Official Independent Charts if it is released on a label which is 50% or more owned by an independent (non-major) company, irrespective of the distribution channel through which it is shipped or delivered.

They will be accompanied by the new Independent Breakers charts. The new Breakers Charts are designed to reflect and bolster music from the independent sector’s newer, developing acts, by remaining open only to artists which have not previously scored a Top 20 hit in the UK – in the first few months of this year, they would have benefited critical darlings including Bon Iver, Friendly Fires, Patrick Wolf and The Horrors.