Record industry to include streaming in disc awards

Acts including One Direction and Beyonce could get some of the dozens of new gold discs awarded by the record industry after it announced that plays on streaming services will now count alongside traditional sales.

The BPI, the UK-wide record industry body, has been awarding the commemorative discs recognising massive sales for more than 40 years.

It said more than 80 singles had either been certified as silver discs or upgraded to gold, platinum or double platinum status after it agreed to recognise streaming.

Beyonce’s Drunk In Love, One Direction’s Best Song Ever and Summer by Calvin Harris are among the tracks that have newly qualified for gold discs which mark sales of 400,000.

Jessie J’s Price Tag, Let Her Go by Passenger and Titanium by David Guetta are all in line for double platinum status having sold more than 1.2 million copies.

US singer Ariana Grande made chart history on Sunday when she became the first act to get a number one single based on sales and streaming.

The BPI has backdated the data from streaming sites such as Spotify to the start of the year, with 100 streams equal to one sale – the same system used by the charts.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: “Like the Official Charts, the BPI’s certified awards and platinum, gold and silver discs form part of our country’s music heritage, so including audio streams in the sales data for singles represents an important landmark.

“It will ensure that our awards remain relevant and up to date in measuring the popularity of our favourite recordings.”