A new set of charts is being launched to monitor emerging European artists’ radio airplay outside of their home country.

The weekly, airplay-based European Border Breakers Chart is the brainchild of showcase festival and conference Eurosonic Noorderslag, in partnership with the European Broadcasting Union and with the support of the European Commission.

The chart will be officially launched at Eurosonic 2016 this week.

Based on impact rather than plays, tracks are ranked according to the number of people reached by the stations playing the songs. The charts will be published each Friday on dedicated website http://www.europeanborderbreakerschart.eu.

They will serve as an extension of the European Border Breakers Awards, which are awarded to European artists whose first international album experienced the greatest cross-border success across the EU.

“As the hosts of the European Border Breakers Awards, this is a really exciting new development for us,” said Eurosonic MD Peter Smidt. “We all know how difficult it is for new talent to break through. These charts will help [people] discover all year long the new generation of European artists. We are very proud to count Music Week as our partner in this ambitious project.”

Airplay is monitored by Radiomonitor from a panel consisting of 48 stations from across 32 countries.  Artists must be emerging European acts, with a maximum of one international album release.  Only European airplay outside their home country is taken into account and tracks must be a maximum of two years old.

[Source : Music Week]