MONDAY GRAMMYS, FRIDAY CHART: A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME FOR RETAIL

The 2016 Grammys will be the first to take place since the new Friday-to-Thursday chart week. This will also be the first time in a decade the telecast has not been on a Sunday night. Instead, it's on a Monday, midway through the new reporting period—which raises some intriguing questions.

While digital providers like iTunes, Amazon and Google Play continue to report weekly sales through Sunday night, prior to the adoption of the Friday global release date last July, most physical retailers reported their sales from Sunday through Saturday. This setup allowed physical retailers a full week to register any Grammy-related spikes. Digital purchasing, on the other hand, begins during the ceremony and has often been concentrated in the few Sunday night hours following the show and into the following day—resulting in digital sales being split between the night of the broadcast and the week following the show. Sales spikes would then straddle two chart weeks.

So how will this year's ceremony, which takes place smack-dab in the middle of the reporting period, impact next week's chart? The most likely scenario suggests Grammy spikes will be heavily concentrated into the four days immediately following the broadcast, which are also the last four days of the chart period. This could make for a very strong chart next week but could also result in larger than usual drops in the week following.

And how will streaming play out for the winners and performers? This will be the first Grammys broadcast since the launch of Apple Music and the mainstreaming of streaming services. Will Grammy viewers opt to purchase this year, or will sales figures be muted in favor of streaming?

More on the subject nearby.