The Official New Zealand Music Chart (Māori: Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music Chart also includes the top-20 New Zealand artist singles and albums and top 10 compilation albums. All charts are compiled from data of both physical and digital sales from music retailers in New Zealand.^[1]

The singles chart is currently sales and streaming data of songs. In June 2014 it was announced that the chart would also include streaming;^[2] this took effect for the chart published 7 November 2014 and dated 10 November 2014.^[3] Previously airplay was factored into the chart methodology as well.^[4][5]

Before 1975, music charts in New Zealand had been regionally compiled by magazines, record stores, and radio stations on an ad hoc basis. This often occurred at different times which made chart compiling complex, and even then only singles were counted.^[6][7]

From May 1975 to 2004, RIANZ also published an nationwide annual ranking chart of singles and albums released in New Zealand.^[7] Position was awarded by a simple scoring system whereby a number one in one week gets 50 points, a number two gets 49 points and so on, then all weeks are added together. From 2004 onwards, however, the annual charts have songs positioned based on the number of sales for that year.

From April 2007 to October 2011, the charts were displayed and archived at the website radioscope.net.nz which listed 13 different charts, most notably RadioScope100 and NZ40 Airplay Chart.^[8] In November 2011, RIANZ launched an updated chart website. The new Chart website also provides the ability to listen to song previews, view music videos, and buy tracks and albums.^[9][10]

On 19 June 2021, a new chart was launched for the top ten songs in te reo Māori, for songs with at least 70% of vocals in Māori.^[11]

In May 2015, Recorded Music NZ celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Official NZ Top 40 Music Charts. An event was held at Vector Arena in Auckland and featured performances from 16 artists from New Zealand and overseas who had previously achieved various chart milestones, including most number ones, most chart entries, most weeks in the chart and most weeks at number one.^[12]

As part of the celebrations, a limited edition single pressed on red vinyl was released, with Tiki Taane's song "Always on my Mind" (the New Zealand track to spend the most weeks - 55 - in the singles chart) and Scribe's song "Stand Up" (the New Zealand single to spend the most weeks - 12 - at number one).^[13]

The following chart achievements were noted:

Singles

• Most no.1 singles: The Beatles have fourteen as a band, Justin Bieber with eleven and Katy Perry with nine no.1 singles respectively
• Most no.1 singles (NZ): Deep Obsession, 3 no. 1 singles
• Most chart entries: Madonna, 53 entries
• Most chart entries (NZ): Shihad, 25 entries
• Most weeks in chart: New Order "Blue Monday", 74 weeks
• Most weeks in chart (NZ): Tiki Taane "Always On My Mind", 55 weeks

Albums

• Most No.1 albums: U2, 13 no.1 albums
• Most No.1 albums (NZ): Local Act: Hayley Westenra, and Shihad, five no.1 albums each
• Most chart entries: Elton John, 35 entries
• Most chart entries (NZ): Split Enz, 14 entries
• Most weeks in chart: Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, 297 weeks
• Most weeks in chart (NZ): Fat Freddy's Drop Based on a True Story, 108 weeks
• Most weeks at no.1: Adele 21, 28 weeks
• Most weeks at no.1 (NZ): Hayley Westenra Pure, 19 weeks

From June 2016, the method of determining certifications was changed to a points-based system based on a combination of physical sales, digital sales and online streams. For singles, 175 streams is considered equal to one sale. For albums, the Stream Equivalent Album (SEA) system is used.^[14]

A single qualifies for gold certification if it exceeds 15,000 points and platinum certification if it exceeds 30,000 points. An album qualifies for gold certification if it exceeds 7500 points and platinum certification if it exceeds 15,000 points. wholesale sales to retailers. For music DVDs (formerly videos), a gold accreditation represents 2,500 copies shipped, with a platinum accreditation representing 5,000 units shipped.^[1]

The following is a list of albums that have been certified by the Recorded Music NZ.

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021)

• List of number-one singles in New Zealand by New Zealand artists
• List of number-one albums in New Zealand by New Zealand artists
• List of best-selling albums in New Zealand