U.K. music charts changing rules to counter Ed Sheeran effect

The official singles chart in the U.K. is changing its methodology after singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran had 16 songs in the top 20 earlier this year.

The new rules call for acts to be limited to three songs on the top-100 singles chart at once. 

The changes are aimed at preventing music's big acts from dominating the charts and making room for new artists to have their music heard.

• Drake, The Weeknd top Spotify's year-end lists
• Ed Sheeran leads Spotify's top young artists

The charts are also changing their rules about how streaming counts towards chart position.

Sheeran benefited from people streaming his entire Divide album, which meant all 16 songs were counted toward the charts. The new rules go into effect tomorrow.

Drake, The Weeknd part of problem

Canadian artists like Drake and The Weeknd have also occupied top-song lists with entire albums of charting tracks.

All 17 tracks from Drake's album If You're Reading This It's Too Late made Billboard's top-50 R&B and hip hop chart when it was released in February 2015.

The new rules are also shifting to give less weight to streaming listens over time so there's more turnover on the charts.

So far 150 streaming listens have counted as one sale on the U.K.'s single chart. Under the new rules, if a track has managed to chart for 10 weeks while sales decline for three subsequent weeks, it'll take 300 streaming listens to equal one sale.