2021 #1: 612,091,106
2022 #1: 440,098,971
Diff.: -171,992,135
The weakest digital year since the Index Points System was introduced.
Changes Circle SHOULD have made:
Change tracking period to Fri. - Thur. almost every official chart worldwide uses this method except SK (Sun. 12:00 p.m. - Sun. 11:59 a.m.) and Japan (Wed. - Tues.)
Increase the filter cap for streaming - 1 stream/acc./day is stupid. Increasing the cap can combat the mass-downloading. They can use the years of consumer streaming behavior data they have to set a cap suitable for their market size.
Adjust Certification - from the beginning they should have had criteria similar to Japan
Streaming: Gold - 50M+ / Platinum - 100M+ / Diamond - 500M+
(ED,EM is only just closing in on 400M streams, 1B is totally possible only if they increase the streaming cap)
Download: Gold - 100K+ / Platinum - 250K+ / Million - 1M+
(I don't think any song released so far this decade or in the future will reach 2.5M DLs)
Some may think DLs should be completely removed but there are some people that prefer this format for security reasons. (Songs can be taken down from streaming sites without notice due to copyright or label/platform disputes and some artist don't even release physicals anymore). DLs are a good alternative and should be reflected in the chart.