Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...

s in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Ultratop is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, created on the initiative of the

Belgian Entertainment Association The Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) is the organization that represents the interests of the music, video and video game industries in Belgium. It was founded in February 2008, when three organizations merged, namely IFPI Belgium, the loc ...

(BEA), the Belgian member organization of the

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

. Two parallel sets of charts are concurrently produced and published, one on behalf of Belgium's mainly Dutch-speaking

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

region, and the other catering to the nation's mainly French-speaking region of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

Ultratop charts

The music charts produced by Ultratop organization are separated along regional-language boundaries, an unusual division that is justified by the cultural differences in Belgium. So it is that the mainly Dutch-speaking

region has one set of charts of record activity there, while the mainly French-speaking

region has another set to measure popularity in those provinces. The charts are broadcast on several Belgian radio stations, and on TV stations TMF in Flanders and

Plug RTL Plug RTL is a general Luxembourgish French speaking commercial television chain with international presence and targeting adolescents and young people (15-34 age bracket). The station is particularly popular in francophone parts of Belgium (Wallon ...

in Wallonia.

Procedure

Ultratop creates charts based on record sales of around 500 retail outlets and legal digital downloads. Currently

GfK GfK (originally german: GfK-Nürnberg Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung e.V., lit=Nuremberg Society for Consumer Research, label=none) is a provider of data and intelligence to the consumer goods industry. It is headquartered in Nuremberg, German ...

is the market observer of the charts. The chart broadcasts on

Radio Contact ''Radio Contact'' is the thirteenth album by Acoustic Alchemy. Comprising thirteen tracks and led off by the single "No Messin'", the album features input from fellow guitarist Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – ...

on Saturdays from 12:00 to 14:00. The combined number of Ultratop chart listeners on the various radio or TV stations exceeds two million every week. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the charts in 2005, a jubilee book was published. It covers all 15,282 singles from 5,882 artists thus far.

Prominent charts

Ultratop 50 Singles (Flemish chart)

Ultratop 50 has existed since 31 March 1995. Prior to 1995, the official weekly chart was the

Radio 2 Top 30 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

(previously known as the BRT Top 30) broadcast by the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) and subsequently by the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN) - a chart which continues to be broadcast to this day by the BRTN's successor, the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) (hence its alternative name, the VRT Top 30). The Ultratop 50 chart is compiled in Dutch and presented on the Belgian radio station MNM. It also used to air on the now defunct

TMF Flanders TMF was a Belgian pay television channel whose programming was centred towards pop music videoclips. TMF was operated by Viacom International Media Networks. Originally an abbreviation of "The Music Factory", the channel was launched as TMF Vlaan ...

, and has not been shown on television since.

Ultratop 50 Singles (Walloon chart)

The Walloon Ultratop chart began in 1995 as the Ultratop 40, ranking the forty best-selling singles in the mainly French-speaking region of Belgium. On 4 September 2010, the Walloon chart was renamed Ultratop 50 as well after being increased from a 40-position into a 50-position chart.

Ultratop 200 Albums (Flemish chart)

Compiled in Dutch, it covers weekly albums sales in Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region. Originally brought out as the Ultratop 50 Albums chart, it was expanded to become the Ultratop 100 Albums chart, and eventually the Ultratop 200 Albums chart.

Ultratop 200 Albums (Walloon chart)

Published in French, it covers weekly albums sales in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region.

Complete list of Ultratop charts

The Ultratop charts published include:

Ultratip

In addition to the main Ultratop 50, another weekly singles chart known as Ultratip was published until it was discontinued on 29 May 2021. Also referred to as the Tipparade, it was an indicator chart of songs that had not or had not yet reached the Ultratop 50, comparable to the US

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart.

Ultratip charts

*Flanders: Ultratip Bubbling Under 100 *Wallonia: Ultratip Bubbling Under 50

Streaming

Since 2016 for singles, and since July 2017 for albums, the Ultratop charts also include streaming. The exact number of streams that are counted as a single or an album is undisclosed. In order to avoid inflation of album sales through raising the number of tracks, only the twelve most streamed tracks are counted. To avoid the effect of

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

s, the two most streamed tracks are counted at the average of the next ten tracks.

References

External links

* *
Charts archive (Flanders, from 1956 to 2011)

{{Record Charts Cultural organisations based in Belgium Belgian record charts