UK streaming music firm we7 is understandably chuffed about being ranked first in Experian Hitwise's chart of the most popular UK music sites based on pageviews. CEO Steve Purdham describes it as a “significant milestone”.Our first reaction is congratulations. we7 has worked hard in the last year to refine its service and forge partnerships to promote it, and its top ranking reflects this. It clearly sets some store by the Hitwise rankings, as back in May, we7 claimed to be the fastest growing UK music site according to Hitwise's data.But that's where our reservations begin. Just how useful is Hitwise's chart really? Here's the top 10 from the latest chart, as supplied to us by we7:1. We7 (6.02% share)2. Last.fm (5.9%)3. Grooveshark (5.26%)4. Ultimate Guitar Archive (4.97%)5. BBC Radio 1 (3.67%)6. miastomuzyki.pl (2.49%)7. MetroLyrics (2.03%)8. VampireFreaks.com (1.99%)9. Discogs (1.4%)10. NME.com (1.21%)Where do we start? The chart only covers pageviews on music websites, which is why there's no Spotify (desktop client), YouTube and MySpace (presumably classed as video and social networking sites respectively by Hitwise. So the chart isn't really reflecting which online services Brits are using to listen to music. Yet we've already spotted several stories based on we7's announcement [...]
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