Chart listings have been published in Finland since 1951. The idea was brought to this country originally by Paavo Einiö.
Initially the charts featured only singles, and the first LP or album lists appeared here as late as 1966. "Earlier singles were the important item. Nowadays their sales have collapsed completely; the biggest buyers in the singles market are disc jockeys", says Jake Nyman.
These days the official Finnish chart is compiled by the registered outlets sending the team at YLE a weekly report of their record sales.
On the basis of these reports, album-, single-, compilation-, midprice-, and DVD lists are compiled. A new list based on online downloads is in the pipeline.
The lists of today are put together based on real sales figures; a range of points-systems previously in use was finally abandoned in 1997. Sales reports are gathered from all the major record retailers.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print in the Nyt weekly supplement of 11.11.2005
