Australian Recording Industry Association

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry. It oversees the collection, administration and distribution of music licenses and royalties. The association has more than a hundred members, including small labels typically run by one to five people, medium size organisations and very large companies with international affiliates. ARIA is administered by a Board of Directors comprising senior executives from record companies, both large and small. It is the Australian counterpart of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In 2006 ARIA, Motorola and Nova formed an alliance, bringing in a new era for the ARIA Charts. Motorola is now the official sponsor of the ARIA Charts (now known as the Motorola ARIA Charts), a deal which will see the re-introduction of printed charts into retail shops around Australia, promotions surrounding local and international artists and the launch of a new website for the charts. The Nova radio network is now the official broadcast partner for the Motorola ARIA Charts - broadcasting the official Motorola ARIA Chart show each Sunday with Jabba, at 3pm EDST.

Methodology of its charts

ARIA collects recorded music sales data from more than 1100 music retailers across Australia. Sales figures are then extrapolated to achieve a 'best estimate' of the actual overall sales of each title. Titles are ranked according to their 'weighted' sales figures.

The charts are calculated once every week on Sundays. They are based on retail music sales within Australia for the week from the preceding Saturday to the Friday prior to calculation. The new charts are usually uploaded to the official ARIA website on Sunday night Eastern Australian time. The Club Chart is compiled from weekly DJ reports across Australia.

According to ARIA, a music single, album or DVD that has shipped a minimum of 35,000 copies to music retailers can be certified gold, and shippings of over 70,000 copies can be certified platinum.

In April 2006 ARIA began producing a Digital Track Chart, calculated from sales data submitted by major online music providers such as Apple iTunes, BigPond Music, Destra Music, ninemsn Music and Soundbuzz, as well as retailers such as Ripit, Leading Edge and JB Hi Fi. ARIA says the digital sales market accounted for $8 million revenue to the industry during 2005, or around 1.5 per cent of the overall wholesale market.