1. What the chart measures
Independent Chart ranks eligible tracks by valid votes cast by readers on this website during one weekly round. It is a reader-choice chart of participating tracks, not a measure of worldwide popularity, sales or Spotify streams.
Weekly score = the number of valid reader votes for a track in that round. Each accepted vote has the same weight. Scores restart at zero every week; votes from earlier rounds do not carry over.
2. How a track enters
Submit a Spotify track link and one main genre through the Independent Playlist. The editorial team checks the link, duplicates, genre and suitability for an independent-music publication. Approval adds the track to the magazine’s playlist; it does not guarantee a chart position.
An approved track joins the next full weekly round. A track approved after a round has started waits until the following Monday, so every new entry has a complete voting week. Tracks approved before the chart launches enter its first round.
There is no release-age limit in this version. Unavailable or removed recordings may be paused or withdrawn. Submission and chart participation are free.
3. Who can vote
Voting will require an Independent reader account with a verified email address. Spotify sign-in will not be required. One person may use only one reader account.
Each reader may support up to five different tracks per weekly round, with no more than one active vote for each track. Readers may change their choices before voting closes; only their final selections count. Artists may vote for their own track under the same rules as everyone else.
Creating multiple accounts, using temporary identities to evade limits, buying votes or automating votes is prohibited. Email verification alone does not establish that every account belongs to a different person, so additional abuse checks and editorial review will be needed.
4. The weekly timetable
All chart times use UTC, regardless of a reader’s location. Each round opens on Monday at 00:00 UTC and closes at the start of the following Monday, 00:00 UTC. Votes received at or after that closing instant belong to the new round.
Results are scheduled for publication on Monday at 12:00 UTC, after validation. The publication may be delayed if suspicious activity needs investigation; a notice will explain the delay. Each results page will identify its voting dates.
5. Positions, ties and genre views
Tracks are ordered from the highest to the lowest valid weekly vote total. Only tracks with at least one valid vote can enter the published chart. If fewer than twenty positions qualify, we publish a shorter chart rather than filling it with zero-vote entries.
Equal totals receive a joint position. The next position accounts for the number of tied tracks: for example, 1, 2, 2, 4. All tracks tied at position 20 are included, so an edition may contain more than twenty tracks. Alphabetical display within a tie does not imply a higher score.
Genre views filter the same weekly results by each track’s approved main genre and show its genre position alongside its overall position. They do not use extra votes or a separate scoring formula. A main-genre correction takes effect from the next round.
6. How long a track competes
A track is eligible for eight consecutive weekly rounds from its first eligible round, including weeks in which it receives no votes. It then leaves the competition but may remain in the magazine’s playlist and published chart archive.
The same recording cannot restart its eight-week run through a different link, a new submission or a switch between single and album versions. Editors will review suspected duplicate recordings. A genuinely different recording may be considered as a new entry.
7. Fair play and moderation
The ranking will exclude votes identified as automated, duplicated, purchased or otherwise invalid. Unusual voting patterns may trigger a review; a shared network address by itself will not automatically disqualify different readers.
Editors may hold a track’s result while checking activity, remove invalid votes or disqualify a track where manipulation is established. Editorial decisions will not award hidden bonus points. A chart position cannot be bought, and paid promotion outside the chart does not increase a track’s score.
8. What does not count
Spotify streams, saves, follower counts, player clicks, listening duration, page views and social shares are not part of the chart score. Asking genuine listeners to visit the magazine and cast their own vote is allowed; offering money, rewards or exchanges for votes is not.
There will be no requirement to stream a track repeatedly or follow a Spotify playlist to make a vote count. This is an Independent readers’ chart, not an official Spotify chart or a Spotify endorsement.
9. Results, archives and corrections
Once launched, each weekly edition will show position, track, artist, valid vote total, movement since the previous edition and weeks of eligibility used. A new entry is labelled “New”; a returning entry absent from the previous Top 20 is labelled “Re-entry”. Genre views use the same verified results.
Published editions will be retained in an archive. A later correction will include a dated explanation; results will not be silently rewritten. A dedicated chart enquiry and appeal channel will be published before voting opens.
10. Launch requirements and rule changes
These are the published rules for the planned first version. Voting will open only after reader verification, vote storage, abuse controls, moderation, privacy information and a chart contact channel are in place and tested.
Any rule change will carry a new version and an effective round date. Changes to scoring or eligibility will apply to future rounds, not retrospectively to a completed round. If a round is cancelled, a notice will explain what happens to eligibility weeks.