February 08, 2010

By By Wolfgang Spahr, Berlin

The charity set "Hope For Haiti Now" (MTV Networks), a worldwide hit album featuring Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys, is not listed in the German top 100 albums chart.

Media Control in Baden-Baden and the association of the German phonographic industry (BVMI) in Berlin explained that German chart rules do not allow digital-only longplay releases to register in the chart. Download albums are only counted for the charts if there is also a corresponding physical release on the market.

Stefan Michalk, managing director of the BVMI, commented: "In the past the album downloads were very low compared to the single downloads. Therefore download-only versions were not registered and counted for the charts. We would have to change the statutes for that."

In the Media Control download longplay chart, the album is listed at No. 1. In the MP3 charts of Amazon.de the album is at a top position and at iTunes Germany "Hope For Haiti Now" is at No. 5.

BVMI reports that in 2008 digital album sales and bundles increased 50% with 3.9 million bundles.

According to internal sources, possible changes to the German chart statutes will be among the subjects for discussion at a future board meeting of the BVMI.

In the U.K., the album was eligible for the Official Charts Company's compilation albums chart, where it became the first digital-only release to top that chart.

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!