EVEN is a certified data supplier to Luminate, the company behind the Billboard charts. Your sales can count, but they do not count automatically. There is one step you have to take yourself, and a few requirements your release has to meet.

Chart reporting is not automatic. You designate each release as chart-eligible in Backstage, and that opt-in is what authorises EVEN to submit the release to Luminate for validation.

Do this per release, and do it before your release goes live. A release that was never opted in is not submitted, so its sales are not reported.

When you opt in, you are also confirming two things: that you hold all the rights you need for the release, and that it meets Luminate's minimum pricing. Both are covered below.

Once your release is registered, EVEN reports your sales data to Luminate daily, including metadata, sales volume and pricing. You do not need to do anything further.

Chart weeks run from Friday through Thursday, so your sales are credited to whichever chart week they fall in. This is worth planning your launch around, because a sale made on a Friday counts toward the week that is just beginning rather than the one that has just closed.

Your release needs:

EVEN does not issue UPCs or ISRCs. Your distributor usually provides them as part of their service, so check there first. If you are a label or you prefer to manage it yourself, you can apply directly through your local ISRC agency.

Incorrect or missing codes are the most common reason a sale fails validation, so it is worth checking them twice before you publish.

Luminate sets minimum prices for chart eligibility. Priced below these, a sale will not count:

Remember that your price locks after your first sale, so set it correctly before launch rather than trying to adjust it during the campaign.

Luminate applies its own validation measures beyond pricing and metadata. These include:

Music sold together with another product or incentive may also fail to meet requirements, so be careful with bundles if charting matters to your campaign.

This is not an exhaustive list. Luminate sets its own validation measures and can apply others.

Luminate has sole discretion over whether to accept or reject reported data. EVEN uses commercially reasonable efforts to report accurately, but we cannot guarantee chart outcomes.

Once data has been reported, it cannot be retracted. Luminate receives a perpetual, irrevocable licence to it.

If you pull a release from sale partway through a reporting period, sales already submitted for that period are not withdrawn.

Chart reporting depends on EVEN's certification with Luminate, which means anomalies in one artist's data can affect the platform as a whole.

If a release triggers a Luminate suspension of that certification, EVEN may suspend chart reporting for the release involved while we investigate. Where we find fraudulent activity, the account can be terminated.

In practice this rarely affects artists running a normal campaign. It matters if you are considering anything that artificially inflates sales, which is worth avoiding for this reason alone.

Luminate's standards are set by Luminate, not by EVEN, and they are revised from time to time. We communicate material changes through Backstage, and we may modify or discontinue chart reporting where the rules require it.

If charting is central to your campaign, check the current requirements when you set the release up rather than relying on what applied last time.

Email [email protected] with your artist name and the release name, and we can check what was reported and whether anything failed validation.

If your release date is close, say so in the subject line and we will look at it first.