Data Standard
Methodology
NGMCharts is a weekly chart for Nigerian gospel music with global signal scope. We track how Nigerian gospel songs move across trusted digital platforms, then rank them using a methodology built around recent momentum, verified song identity, and chart integrity. We do not simply rank the biggest lifetime songs. We aim to reflect which songs are genuinely moving now.
Our chart draws from YouTube, Audiomack, and publicly visible Spotify data as performance sources, while Apple Music plays an important role in identity and metadata verification. For seeded artists with Apple Music profiles, NGMCharts now starts discovery from the artist Apple Music catalogue, then looks for matching YouTube family links around those verified songs. That means we care not only about numbers, but also about whether the song, artist, and platform source are being matched correctly.
Apple Music does not add plays to the score. It gives NGMCharts a stronger song anchor: official title, release date, artwork, preview, ISRC, and duration context where available. YouTube links from official channels, topic audio, music videos, lyric videos, live versions, and related family items are then checked against that anchor before they can count.
NGMCharts does not host or store music audio for chart ranking. We store song identity, source links, platform metrics, metric history, eligibility decisions, and published weekly chart snapshots.
Spotify data is treated as a public play count signal where available. NGMCharts does not claim access to private Spotify royalty reports, label dashboards, distributor dashboards, or Spotify for Artists account data. We track visible count movement over time and use it as one part of a wider evidence set alongside YouTube and Audiomack.
Because public Spotify visibility can vary by track, artist, and availability, missing or inconsistent Spotify data does not automatically disqualify a song. Where Spotify data is unavailable, the song may still be assessed through other verified platform signals and metadata checks.
To rank, a song must first clear a minimum weighted performance threshold and show enough valid data maturity to be treated as an active chart competitor. Older songs may still qualify, but they face stricter entry conditions than newer songs.
Once a song is eligible, NGMCharts scores it primarily through current movement using recent velocity across today, 3 day, and 7 day windows. A smaller catalogue layer remains in the model so the chart can still recognise scale and sustained relevance, but movement leads the final outcome.
NGMCharts also includes protections against coasting, duplication, suspicious spikes, weak source matches, and artist overcrowding. Songs are not allowed to remain highly ranked just because they were big once. They must continue showing enough present force to hold their place.
Our charts are refreshed through the week and published on a weekly cycle. Public chart weeks are treated as stable published snapshots rather than casually rewriteable lists.
If a song appears in the wrong genre, has a missing contributor, has been matched to the wrong version, or appears to have incorrect platform data, it can be submitted for review. Corrections do not guarantee a chart change. Every review is checked against source data, metadata quality, chart rules, and the published chart cycle.
| Platform | Role | How NGMCharts uses it |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Score source | Public video performance, movement, official video context, family links, and source checks |
| Audiomack | Score source | Public play performance where a reliable song match is available |
| Spotify | Score source | Publicly visible play count movement where available, with family and duplicate controls |
| Apple Music | Identity source | Artist catalogues, metadata, release date, artwork, preview, ISRC, duration context, and song verification support |
| Manual review | Governance layer | Used for duplicates, wrong genres, live versions, remixes, weak matches, and suspicious data |
Scoring Rules
Weighted plays
YouTube views x 1.0, Audiomack plays x 0.5, Spotify streams x 0.8. Apple Music is not a scoring source.
Entry threshold
A song needs at least 100,000 weighted plays before it can enter the scoring pool.
Data maturity
A song needs at least 2 valid metric entries before it can rank, so one unstable datapoint cannot create a chart position.
Movement signal
Current movement blends 65% today velocity, 25% 3 day average velocity, and 10% 7 day average velocity.
Final score
Final score is 95% adjusted movement and 5% catalogue relevance, then a survival guard is applied.
Quality controls
Engagement, trust, manual dampening, and new-entry spike checks are bounded between 0.80 and 1.15.
Catalogue pressure
Older songs can chart, but they need present movement. Catalogue songs below the age-based demand gates are blocked from new entry.
Artist cap
The main chart allows a maximum of 3 songs per artist, keeping one artist from overcrowding the chart.
Scoring Maths
Weighted plays
First, we turn each platform into one shared play number.
YouTube counts fully, Audiomack counts at half weight, and Spotify counts at 80%.
Movement score
Then we measure how fast the song is moving right now.
Today matters most: 65% today, 25% last 3 days, 10% last 7 days.
Adjusted movement
Next, we adjust that movement for age and data quality.
Newer songs get more lift, weak data gets less lift, trusted data gets more confidence.
Catalogue relevance
We keep a small memory of the song’s overall scale.
Recent 90 day plays matter more than lifetime plays, so old hits cannot coast forever.
Final score
The chart is still mostly about current momentum.
95% comes from adjusted movement, 5% comes from catalogue relevance, then survival checks are applied.
Recency Factor
In practice, NGMCharts is momentum-led. Recent movement carries 95% of the final score, while catalogue relevance carries 5%, so a song with fresh activity can outrank an older song with bigger lifetime totals. Quality, trust, dampening, spike checks, and catalogue survival controls are included to reduce coasting and artificial movement.
Discovery And Identity
Apple first
When an artist has a seeded Apple Music profile, NGMCharts uses that artist catalogue as the first song list. Strong catalogue matches are cached, so future discovery runs do not need to keep re-solving the same confirmed songs from scratch.
YouTube second
NGMCharts then checks seeded YouTube channels, video-tab results, uploads, topic audio, and other known family links against the Apple song anchor. Only likely matches move on to deeper YouTube stats and duration checks.
Fallback path
If an artist does not yet have an Apple Music profile, NGMCharts can still use guarded YouTube-led discovery, but candidates must pass stricter Apple verification, source, release-date, title, and duration controls before they can enter review.
What Counts
Counted sources are metrics attached to the accepted song family. Official video, audio, lyric, topic, live, remix, and related versions may be counted only when identity guardrails or manual review attach them to the same canonical song.
What Does Not Count
- Private dashboards, royalty reports, label reports, distributor-only data, or Spotify for Artists account data
- Unverified duplicate uploads or unrelated songs with similar titles
- Long sessions, sermons, medleys, or catalogue/reissue matches that do not clearly belong to the verified song family
- Platform IDs that fail identity checks or remain unresolved after review
- Artificial spikes, invalid metric corrections, or source data treated as unreliable
- Rejected or inactive tracks unless they are reviewed and reactivated
- Radio, TV, TikTok, Instagram, Boomplay, and other signals until NGMCharts has reliable source access and published rules for them