Wikipedia:Record charts/Sourcing guide

Key to archive symbols

Symbol	Explanation of symbol
	All charts on this site are official and properly licensed.
	No problems have been detected with this archive. While using an official source is generally preferred, using this archive as a convenience link is acceptable. Good and Featured class articles should not rely on unlicensed archives as convenience links, and should use official sites and licensed archives where possible.
	While this chart appears to have been archived correctly, there are problems surrounding this archive site that make it questionable. Further use of this archive is discouraged, and people are encouraged to change links to this site to point to other sources.
	This chart has been archived incorrectly or is taken from an impermissible chart. It cannot be used as a source.

Typical sources for record charts and archives, by country

Country	Charts					Archives				Comments
	Albums		Singles
	Sales	Certifications	Sales	Airplay	Certifications	αCharts.us	Chart-Surfer.de	Top40-Charts.com	Hung Medien
Argentina	CAPIF	CAPIF (from 2000)								Only the monthly chart is archived, labeled "Ranking Mensual".
Australia	ARIA charts Hung Medien	ARIA (from 1997)	ARIA charts Hung Medien		ARIA (from 1997)					An archive of individual charts can be found at http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/23790 . It isn't searchable, but this is the only archive that preserves position 51-100.
Austria	oe3.ORF.at Hung Medien	IFPI (from 1990)	oe3.ORF.at Hung Medien		IFPI (from 1990)
Belgium (Flanders)	Ultratop	Ultratop (from 2000)	Ultratop		Ultratop (from 2000)					Dutch- and French-speaking sections of Belgium are charted separately.
Belgium (Wallonia)	Ultratop	Ultratop (from 2000)	Ultratop		Ultratop (from 2000)
Brazil	ABPD	ABPD (from 1990)		See Notes Crowley Broadcast Analysis	ABPD Download					The album chart is poorly formatted and difficult to navigate. Detailed navigation help is available here. The Hot 100 Airplay and Hot Pop Songs charts from Billboard Brasil magazine are acceptable, but not archived. These charts can be included only by referencing the physical magazine, not the online chart. Crowley Broadcast Analysis charts must be saved using WebCite or another similar service, as the PDFs disappear after 8 weeks. The remaining charts from Billboard Brasil are from individual Brazilian states, and generally should not be used.
Bulgaria				Nielsen						No valid album charts or singles sales charts are known to exist.
Canada	Nielsen	CRIA	Nielsen	Nielsen	CRIA					aCharts.us archives Canadian Hot 100 only. Sales for albums and singles are archived at Billboard.
			Billboard
	RPM		RPM							RPM contains information for music from 1964-2000
Croatia	HDU			HRTOP20
Czech Republic	IFPI			IFPI
Denmark	IFPI Hung Medien	IFPI (from 2001) IFPI (from 2004)	IFPI Hung Medien	IFPI	IFPI (from 2007)					Both IFPI and Hung Medien contain archives back to 2001. Prior to 2001 no online archives are known.
Finland	Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Hung Medien	IFPI	Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Hung Medien		IFPI					Search available at ifpi.fi. Click "Albumit - viikko xx/xxxx »" for albums or "Singlet - viikko xx/xxxx »" for singles. There is also a download chart at latauslista.fi, but this should be treated as a component chart: it should be used only when the main chart was not entered.
France	SNEP Hung Medien InfoDisc	SNEP (from 1994) InfoDisc	SNEP Hung Medien	SNEP	SNEP (from 1994) InfoDisc					SNEP charts are found under tab labelled "Les Classements".
Germany	Media Control Musicline.de	IFPI	Media Control Musicline.de	Nielsen	IFPI					Only the top five appear on the display, but the search facility returns all positions. Replace "Suchbegriff" with search text, and hit "Jetzt suchen". The Hung Medien sites (swisscharts.com, lescharts.com, mexicancharts.com, etc.) have peculiar behavior regarding the German charts. None of them display the German charts to anonymous users. All of them (except germancharts.com!) will show the German charts on the international summary display to registered users.
Greece	IFPI  Hung Medien									Chart archives starting from Jan 2010 on greekcharts.com.
Hungary	MAHASZ	MAHASZ (from 2000)	MAHASZ	MAHASZ						Archived at MAHASZ. The Editors' Choice Top 40 should not be used: this is a critic's list, not a reflection of sales or airplay.
Ireland	IRMA	IRMA (2005-2008)	IRMA							Archived at Chart Track, IrishCharts.ie, and IRMA.
Italy	FIMI Hung Medien	FIMI	FIMI Hung Medien		FIMI					Archived at FIMI.
Japan	Oricon Billboard	Gold/Platinum (from 2003) Million	Oricon Billboard RIAJ Digital Track Chart	Billboard	Gold/Platinum (from 2003) Million					Detailed navigation help is available due to language difficulties/explanations on what each chart (Oricon/Billboard/RIAJ) are specifically used for, click here.
			Japan Hot 100 Singles
Korea	GAON Chart		GAON Chart		There is a black bar on top represeting the different charts. The first selection: Digital Comprehensive chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). Second: Online chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). Third: Mobile chart (split into ringback tones and ringtones). Fourth: Album chart (split into combined, domestic, and international charts). The last section is an introduction to the website, which is set up by the Korea Music Content Industry Association, the current music industry association. Please note that "foreign" artists include domestic artists who have released singles in other languages for other markets (for example, a Korean artist releasing a Japanese single). Please also note that the website's design does not allow any direct links to specific charts; as such, you must specify the week in your reference. Previously accepted charts include the Music Industry Association of Korea (the KMCIA predecessor) chart (for album sales prior to 2008) and Hanteo charts. However, Hanteo rankings are problematic as they currently have multiple options of presenting data (from hourly to yearly), and they do not appear to have a "main" chart. Moreover, actual sales data is available for "gold" members only. Hanteo's song chart is currently unavailable. Billboard Korea is being set up in the near future but currently unavailable.
Mexico	AMPROFON Hung Medien	AMPROFON (from 1999)
Netherlands	GfK	NVPI (until 2006)	GfK Dutch Single Top 100		NVPI (until 2006)					Weekly archive incorporated directly into charts. The Single Top 100 is a component of the Dutch Top 40, and should be used only if the single did not chart on the Dutch Top 40.
			Dutch Top 40
New Zealand	RIANZ Hung Medien	RIANZ (from 1999) Radioscope (from 2007)	RIANZ Hung Medien	RIANZ	RIANZ (from 1999) Radioscope (from 2007)					To link to an individual chart, enter http://rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart.asp?chartNum=XXXX&chartKind=Y with XXXX as a chart number and Y and the kind of chart (S=singles, A=albums, D=DVDs, C=compilations, H=radio airplay)
Norway	VG-lista IFPI Hung Medien	IFPI (from 1993 to date)	VG-lista IFPI Hung Medien	IFPI	IFPI (from 1993 to date)					The complete archive (except Midprice and Airplay chart) is on http://lista.vg.no/
Poland	OLiS	ZPAV – Gold ZPAV – Platinum ZPAV- Diamond		Nielsen Top 5 (archive)
Portugal	AFP Hung Medien	AFP 1 (weekly) AFP 2 (from 2007)
Russia		2m-online
Slovakia				IFPI
Spain	PROMUSICAE Hung Medien		PROMUSICAE Hung Medien		Prior to Jan 12, 2009, the charts published at Promusicae, www.spanishcharts.com, and acharts.us were identical, and were all a physical sales chart. After that date, Promusicae began to publish a more comprehensive chart, which included downloads, but www.spanishcharts.com and acharts.us continued to publish only the physical chart. This means that for songs which charted prior to Jan 12, 2009, either source can be used. After Jan 12, 2009, if a song charted on both, then the Promusicae chart should be used. Spanishcharts.com/acharts.us should be used only for charting information after Jan 12, 2009, if the song did not chart on Promusicae. Links to individual charts on Promusicae can be made by using the search function, and then linking to the resulting PDF file. On July 5, 2009, Spanishcharts.com began publishing the more comprehensive chart as well including the complete archive back to January 2009.
Sweden	IFPI Hung Medien	IFPI	IFPI Hung Medien		IFPI					Direct linking to Sverigetopplistan charts is not possible because of Javascript. Instead, one has to insert the artist's or song's name into the search box and click "Sök", this shows all of the artist's albums and singles with their chart positions.
Switzerland	Hung Medien	Hung Medien (from 1989)	Hung Medien	Hung Medien	Hung Medien (from 1989)					Weekly archive built into main list.
United Kingdom	OCC	BPI	OCC OCC archive		BPI					Archived at OCC artist chart history. Positions below 75 can be found at Chart Stats. Since Chart Stats is an anonymous archive, its use has been challenged in the past. Interesting commentary on older albums is located at the OCC chart history.
United States	Billboard	RIAA	Billboard	Billboard	RIAA					Archived at All Music
Country	Charts					Archives				Comments
	Albums		Singles
	Sales	Certifications	Sales	Airplay	Certifications	αCharts.us	Chart-Surfer.de	Top40-Charts.com	Hung Medien

Certification levels

Note: current certification levels are available at http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/international-award-levels.pdf