United World Chart

The United World Chart is a worldwide chart issued every week by Media Traffic, using both sales (digital and physical) and airplay to determine the most popular albums and singles worldwide. The United World Chart uses the same system as the Billboard Hot 100, in which the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; meanwhile the airplay tracking-week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday. The newest weekly chart is therefore issued every Thursday. Each chart is dated with the "week-ending" date of the following Saturday.

:Example:
::Monday, January 1 - sales tracking-week begins
::Wednesday, January 3 — airplay tracking-week begins
::Sunday, January 7 - sales tracking-week ends
::Tuesday, January 9 - airplay tracking-week ends
::Thursday, January 11 - new chart released, with issue date of Saturday, January 20.

In March 2007, Media Traffic ranked "Candle in the Wind 1997" as the most successful song in the chart's history.

Starting in 1999, the first song to reach number one was "Believe" by Cher. As of May 22, 2008, the United World Chart has had 116 number one hits.

Media Traffic began displaying charts that traced back to 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.

*The current number-one single is "4 Minutes" by Madonna and Justin Timberlake.
*The current number-one album is Here I Stand by Usher.

Chart Methodologies
Track Chart
The track chart consists of 40 songs that accummulated the most points in the past week. Points for the charted songs are calculated according to the song's worldwide single sales and radio airplay. Calculation of the track's points amounts to 60% weighting from sales and 40% weighting from airplay.

Album Chart
Just like the track chart, the album chart consist of top 40 albums that week. Album's sales information are from official album chart and global sales data, such as Nielsen SoundScan, from selected countries around the world. The points are weighted to the size of the countries' music markets according to the latest IFPI statistics.
* #3 Mariah Carey's "Honey", Spice Girls's "Spice Up Your Life" and George Michael's "Jesus to a Child".

Artists who hit number one posthumously in the UWC
* Elvis Presley is the only artist who has number one singles posthumously. The first time was with "Way Down" after his death in 1977 and then 25 years later with "A Little Less Conversation" (August 31, 2002).

Biggest single of the year
1960s
*1967: Scott McKenzie — ""

1970s
*1977: Donna Summer — "I Feel Love"

1980s
*1987: Whitney Houston — ""

1990s
*1996: Los Del Rio — "Macarena"
*1997: Third Eye Blind &mdash: "Semi-Charmed Life"
*1998: Celine Dion — "My Heart Will Go On"
*1999: Cher — Believe

2000s
*2000: Madonna —"Music"
*2001: Shaggy featuring — "It Wasn't Me"
*2002: Shakira — "Whenever,Wherever" / "Suerte"
*2003: Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy — "Bring Me to Life"
*2004: Maroon 5 — "This Love"
*2005: Green Day — "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
*2006: Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean — "Hips Don't Lie"
*2007: Rihanna — "Umbrella"

Mistakes of United World Chart

*In chart 43/2006 Rod Stewart's "Still The Same...Great Rock Classics Of Our Time" enters at #4 with sales of 198,000 from the U.S.A. and Canada, but the real figure is 205,000, which leaves him at #4 anyway.
*In chart 44/2006 Media Traffic made the most controversial mistake. They completely ignored astonishing sales of Gregory Charles' "I Think Of You" in Canada, which sold there 109,000 units that week. It should have entered the Top 40 at #9, but it wasn't charted at all.
*In chart 49/2006 Il Divo's "Siempre" enters at #25 with sales of 123,000 from the U.S.A., Canada and Japan but the real figure is almost 141,000, what should bring them to #22.
*In week 50/2006 Media Traffic incorrectly claims that Nelly Furtado's "Loose" was at #33 in 2 previous weeks. The truth is she was outside Top 40 then.
*In chart 50/2006 Il Divo's "The Christmas Collection" should have entered the Top 40 at #38 with sales of 43,000 in the U.S.A., 42,000 in Canada and about 2,000 altogether in Sweden, Finland and Colombia , but it wasn't charted at all that week.
*In chart 1/2007 Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong" left the Top 40, but it should have been at least #39 only with sales from the U.S.A. (127,000) and Canada (46,000).
*In chart 3/2007 only U.S. sales of Omarion's album "21" are counted. Counting also Japanese sales it shouldn't have left the Top 40.
*In chart 16/2007 due to Billboard's mistake Media Traffic claims that Martina McBride's "Waking Up Laughing" has moved 149,000 units in North America, but the real figure is 144,000. They counted 144,000 in the U.S.A. instead of 139,000. Anyway, it leaves her at #7.
*In chart 07/2008 Sarah Brightman's "Symphony" enters at #39 with sales of 36,000 copies only from the U.S.A. and Canada, but the real figure is at least 40,000 (they omitted 2,000 imported copies from Japan and about 2,000 from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Mexico), what should bring her at least to #29.
*In chart 08/2008 Kenny G.'s "Rhythm & Romance" should have enter the Top 40 at #35 with sales of 37,000 units (31,000 in the U.S.A., 1,000 in Canada, 3,000 in Japan and at least 2,000 in the rest of the world), but it wasn't charted at all.
*In chart 08/2008 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Greatest Hits" should have enter the Top 40 at least at #40 with sales of 35,000 units only from the U.S.A., but it wasn't charted at all.
*In chart 09/2008 two editions of the soundtrack "Across The Universe" were counted separately. That album should have re-entered the chart at #34 with 46,000 units (44,000 from the USA and 2,000 from Canada), but it wasn't charted at all that week.
*In chart 21/2008 Scooter's "Jumping All Over The World" enters at #26 with sales of almost 34,000 copies only from the U.K., but the real figure is at least 37,000 (they omitted about 2,000 copies from Germany and Austria and about 1,500 from Ireland), what should bring him at least to #23.

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