Ultratop



Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Two parallel sets of charts are concurrently produced and published; one is on behalf of Belgium's mainly Dutch-speaking Flanders region, and the other catering to the nation's mainly French-speaking region of Wallonia.

Ultratop charts
The music charts produced by Ultratop organization are separated along regional-language boundaries, an unusual division that is justified by the cultural differences in Belgium. So it is that the mainly Dutch-speaking Flanders region has one set of charts of record activity there, while the mainly French-speaking Wallonia region has another set to measure popularity in those provinces.

The charts are broadcast on several Belgian radio stations, and on TV stations TMF in Flanders and Plug RTL in Wallonia.

Procedure
Ultratop creates charts based on record sales of around 500 retail outlets and legal digital downloads. Currently GfK is the market observer of the charts. The chart broadcasts on Radio Contact on Saturdays from 12:00 to 14:00. The combined number of Ultratop chart listeners on the various radio or TV stations exceeds two million every week. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the charts in 2005, a jubilee book was published. It covers all 15,282 singles from 5,882 artists thus far.

Ultratop 50 Singles (Flemish chart)
Ultratop 50 has existed since 31 March 1995. Prior to 1995, the official IFPI Belgium charts which covered both the French speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia) and the Dutch speaking part of Belgium (Flanders) were compiled based on shipments from distributors to retailers and not on sales from retailers to customers. However, this chart coexisted with a weekly Flemish chart that was based on actual sales from retailers to customers known as the Radio 2 Top 30 (previously known as the BRT Top 30) and which was broadcast by VRT, also known as BRT. After Ultratop started publishing the official charts in 1995, Radio 2 started publishing and broadcasting the Ultratop charts. The charts archived on the Ultratop website from before when Ultratop started compiling the charts in 1995 are taken from the book Het Belgisch hitboek: 45 jaar hits in Vlaanderen: 1954-1999 by Robert Collin which in turn uses a variety of sources.

The Ultratop 50 chart is compiled in Dutch and presented on the Belgian radio station MNM. It also used to air on the now defunct TMF Flanders, and has not been shown on television since.

Ultratop 50 Singles (Walloon chart)
The Walloon Ultratop chart began in 1995 as the Ultratop 40, ranking the forty best-selling singles in the mainly French-speaking region of Belgium. The predecessor prior to Ultratop was a nationwide (unified) Belgian chart which began to be compiled in 1961. On 4 September 2010, the Ultratop 40 was renamed Ultratop 50 as well, after the ranking list increased from a total of 40 to 50 songs.

Ultratop 200 Albums (Flemish chart)
Compiled in Dutch, it covers weekly albums sales in Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region. Originally brought out as the Ultratop 50 Albums chart, it was expanded to become the Ultratop 100 Albums chart, and eventually the Ultratop 200 Albums chart.

Ultratop 200 Albums (Walloon chart)
Published in French, it covers weekly albums sales in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region.

Complete list of Ultratop charts
The Ultratop charts published include:

Ultratip
In addition to the main Ultratop 50, another weekly singles chart known as Ultratip or Ultratip Bubbling Under was published until it was discontinued on 29 May 2021. Also referred to as the Tipparade, it was an indicator chart of songs that had not or had not yet reached the Ultratop 50, comparable to the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.

Ultratip charts
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 * Flanders: Ultratip Bubbling Under 100
 * Wallonia: Ultratip Bubbling Under 50

Singles
''Note: Ultratop's all-time singles record (at Ultratop) has been updated to combine the Ultratop data (from 1995 onwards) with the earlier official charts dating back to late 1954. Therefore the singles statistics here actually reflect a combination of charts that are successive but independent of each other.''


 * Most top 50 singles:
 * Will Tura: 92
 * Madonna: 63, including 4 collaborations
 * Elvis Presley: 59, including 1 collaboration
 * Cliff Richard: 58, including 16 collaborations
 * Clouseau: 45
 * Michael Jackson: 45, including 10 collaborations
 * Queen: 41, including 4 collaborations
 * U2: 41, including 5 collaborations
 * The Rolling Stones: 39
 * Bee Gees: 36, including 1 collaboration
 * Prince: 36, including 19 collaborations
 * Beyoncé: 36
 * K3: 34
 * The Beatles: 33
 * Helmut Lotti: 33, including 3 collaborations
 * Milk Inc.: 31, including 1 collaboration


 * Longest at number 1


 * 16 weeks: "Kvraagetaan" by Fixkes
 * 14 weeks: "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake
 * 12 weeks: "The Ketchup Song" by Las Ketchup, "Axel F" cover by Crazy Frog and "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye
 * 11 weeks: "This Is the Life" by Amy Macdonald
 * 10 weeks: "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, "Wild Dances" by Ruslana, "Con te Partiro" by Andrea Bocelli and "Last Thing On My Mind" by Steps


 * Longest noted overall


 * 69 weeks: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
 * 62 weeks: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
 * 61 weeks: "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye
 * 60 weeks: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams
 * 54 weeks: "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets
 * 54 weeks: "Sex On Fire" by Kings Of Leon
 * 52 weeks: "All of me" by John Legend


 * Other records


 * Shortest noted Number 1 hit was "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" by Artists for Haiti. It left the Ultratop 50 after 6 weeks.
 * Biggest leap to the number 1 position was for Elton John with "Candle in the Wind 1997". It jumped from the 46th position, directly to the number 1 spot in September 1997.
 * The record of most songs in the top 100 at the same moment is held by Natalia. In June 2007 she charted with 10 songs.

Albums

 * Most top 50 albums:
 * Will Tura: 29
 * André Rieu: 26
 * Celine Dion: 24
 * The Beatles: 21
 * Helmut Lotti: 20
 * K3: 19 (all reached the top 10)
 * Andrea Bocelli, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen: 18
 * Rolling Stones: 17
 * Pearl Jam: 16
 * Madonna: 15


 * Most number 1 albums:
 * Clouseau: 10
 * K3: 9
 * Helmut Lotti: 8
 * Madonna, Marco Borsato and Michael Jackson: 7
 * U2 and Samson & Gert: 6
 * Celine Dion: 5


 * Longest stay in the charts (since 1995):
 * Queen, The Platinum Collection - Greatest Hits I, II & III, 349 weeks
 * Bob Marley & The Wailers, Legend: 252 weeks
 * Adele, 21: 228 weeks
 * The Beatles, 1: 209 weeks
 * Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club: 193 weeks
 * Marco Borsato, Onderweg: 184 weeks
 * Rammstein, Made in Germany: 172 weeks
 * Coldplay, A Rush Of Blood To The Head: 168 weeks
 * Marco Borsato, #1: 164 weeks
 * Amy Winehouse, Back to Black: 152 weeks
 * Norah Jones, Come Away With Me: 144 weeks
 * Foo Fighters, Greatest Hits, 133 weeks
 * London Grammar, If you Wait, 131 weeks
 * Selah Sue, Selah Sue: 125 weeks
 * St. Germain, Tourist: 122 weeks
 * Gabriel Rios, Ghostboy: 118 weeks
 * Daft Punk, Random Access Memories: 118 weeks
 * Ed Sheeran, +-: 115 weeks
 * Sixto Rodriguez, Searching for Sugar Man (soundtrack): 114 weeks
 * Mélanie De Biasio, No Deal: 111 weeks
 * Milow, The Bigger Picture: 110 weeks
 * Oscar and the Wolf, Entity: 110 weeks
 * Hooverphonic, The Magnificent Tree: 107 weeks
 * Mumford & Sons, Babel: 107 weeks
 * Stromae, Racine carrée: 107 weeks
 * Intergalactic Lovers, Little heavy Burdens: 107 weeks
 * Lady Linn And Her Magnificent Seven, Here We Go Again: 106 weeks
 * Paulo Nutini, Caustic Love: 103 weeks
 * Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More: 102 weeks
 * The Black Box Revelation, Set Your Head On Fire: 102 weeks
 * K3, MaMaSé!: 102 weeks

In Wallonia
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 * Longest stay at number 1 for a single: "The Ketchup Song" by Las Ketchup and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams; 17 weeks . "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" of Céline Dion held on for 15 weeks at that first spot.
 * Longest overall stay in the chart for a single: "Con te partirò" of Andrea Bocelli; 52 weeks in the chart. "Obsesión" by Aventura stayed in the charts for 48 weeks.
 * Number 1 hit that lasted the shortest on the chart: "Ensemble" by Solidarité Asie Tsunami 12-12. It left after 8 weeks total (out of which two weeks at number 1 spot).
 * Songs that entered at number 1: "Candle in the Wind (1997)" by Elton John, "La Musique (Angelica)" by Star Academy (France), "On se Ressemble" by Mario Barravecchia, "Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears and "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay.
 * The strongest riser to the number one position was "Un enfant de toi" by Phil Barney and Marlène Duval. It rose from the 20th place to the first.

Streaming
Since 2016 for singles, and since July 2017 for albums, the Ultratop charts also include streaming. The exact number of streams that are counted as a single or an album is undisclosed. In order to avoid inflation of album sales through raising the number of tracks, only the twelve most streamed tracks are counted. To avoid the effect of one-hit wonders, the two most streamed tracks are counted at the average of the next ten tracks.