As hinted in February, the UK singles chart will take into account streaming services from July.

Songs popular on Spotify, Deezer, Napster and other subscription services will be part of the overall chart position, as determined by the Official Charts Company. It is making the move to include them to be more "future-proofed" and reflect the popularity of artists and tracks that perhaps sells less singles because of online streaming success.

For example, British band Bastille had great success with Pompeii, which is the UK's most streamed song of all time, yet it only made number two in the UK singles chart.

The decision has also been prompted by the dramatic rise in the popularity of streaming services. "So far this year we've seen nine tracks which have been streamed more than one million times in a week. Last year there were only two tracks that had reached that kind of level," said Martin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company.

"So we're seeing a huge growth, up 50 per cent in the first half of this year."

Streaming services confirmed to be providing data to the charts include O2 Tracks, Music Unlimited, Rara and Xbox Music, alongside the aforementioned Spotify, Deezer and Napster. The way it will work is that 100 streams of a song will equate to an outright purchase of the single.

The UK singles chart already includes digital downloads. At present, YouTube views do not count toward chart positions.