Albums sold at some gigs will soon count towards chart figures as the Official Charts Company have launched Lightning Live, a new scheme that will integrate the sales of records on the merch stalls at gigs into the official UK album chart.

As CMU reports, the new scheme will allow retailers at venues to pass on sales data to the OCC which will then be checked by the organisation before being added to sales figures. The move will however only affect merch stalls that are run by the venue rather than the performing artist themselves so this move will not mean a lot to various underground acts playing in small venues.

As The OCC explains, “retailers are required to submit a pre-event inventory report, along with full details of the concert, summary of capacity, tickets sold, before then submitting details of sales achieved."

The OCC's Omar Maskatiya said: "We strive constantly to ensure that the Official Charts reflects and responds to consumer behaviour – and this move, following just a few months after the integration of streams, further underlines this strategy”.