Charts were first published in
West Germany in 1959, in the magazine
Der Musikmarkt (The Music Market), which has played an important role in the German music industry. Since 1959, the growing desire to have a well-developed music program has made
Bundesverband Musikindustrie work together with charts providers to improve the way the charts are determined. In 2004, Germany became one of the first music markets wherein sales charts reflect online digital downloads. Digital-only releases came into existence on 13 July 2007, for online downloads only, which also altered the way the sales figures were conducted up to that point. Consequently, chart positions would no longer be affected by the number of sold music downloads as before, but rather, they would be affected by the sales value of the sold product. Thus, the best-selling albums would not necessarily be the ones ending up in the number-one position on the charts. In March 2014, GfK announced that the official chart provider's name in Germany would change from
Media Control GfK International GmbH to GfK Entertainment. There are currently 3,000 outlets that report their sales on weekly bases in Germany. The weekly sales data is transmitted to GfK Entertainment via communication network channel,
PhonoNet. == Charts ==