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Spain’s official albums chart has been put on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, it has been confirmed.
The country currently has over 140,511 confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of today (April 7), the nation’s total death toll stands at 13,897 and a state of alarm remains in place.
As a result of the pandemic’s strain on the music industry, Promusicae – the organisation who’ve compiled Spain’s chart since 1986 – have announced their decision to stop publishing the chart until the situation improves.
With Spain having been shut down for almost a month, its record shops and other entertainment retail outlets remain closed for business.
In a statement issued to Billboard, Promusicae said that sales of physical music “by mail or messenger could almost serve as testimony to the fact that records are not essential items”. They added that physical sales are “almost irrelevant” at present.
Promusicae will, however, continue to publish their Top 100 Streaming Albums run-down. This will serve as a reference for “the behaviour of the Spanish music market” during this testing time.
It is estimated that the economic impact on physical sales in Spain will amount to around half of the total earnings made from LPs and CDs last year, approximately $43 million (£38m).
The full Top 100 Albums chart will return once the Spanish government declares the end of the nation’s period of lockdown.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus also continues to cause disruption for live shows and festivals. Last month, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound was postponed until the end of August.
In a statement to NME, organisers of the event – which was originally due to take place in June – assured that they are working to secure as many of the same artists for their revised line-up. They also confirmed that ticket details would be confirmed in due course.
“We know that for many people this is a very complicated situation, that’s why we’re working on different solutions,” a spokesperson told NME. “As soon as the state of alarm in Spain is over, we are confident we’ll be able to offer our audience several options, which our team is working on.”
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