When i was little, i believed that every cd sold was tallied up, and that was how the charts worked.
Then at a later date, i was told by a kid at school that the charts counted how many copies had been bought wholesale, by HMV or whoever, in bulk.
then i read The Manual by the KLF, which tells about how cds sold in london count less than those outside, to try and represent the country better or something (apparently they send buying teams out to wee small places cos its more effective).
THEN this summer, i told a friend to go to the shops before the week was over, to help another friend's record in the charts, and he was said it was pointless.
he said that cd sales are only counted from a few shops, and it worked in a proportional manner, with the sales of a few shops scaled up.
also i am told that buying multiple copies of a single at once only counts as one sale.

so does anyone have a fucking CLUE how the record sales charts are collated?