GfK has bought up a further 46 per cent of ChartTrack shares, meaning that a new UK charts authority, GfK ChartTrack Limited, has emerged.

Together, both ELSPA and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) still own 45 per cent of the shares in the new company.

"We are delighted to be joining the GfK Group," said MD of the newly-formed GfK ChartTrack Limited. "We’re confident this will provide us with a solid platform for future growth and we look forward to further developing our range of services. Most importantly, the ability to plug into GfK ’s strong international network will be a terrific benefit to our clients."

Since it was founded in 1996, Chart-Track has achieved considerable success in the field of music and video charts in Ireland and games software in UK and Denmark. Chart-Track’s data is based on POS information directly delivered by the leading games, games software and music providers in the market.

Chart-Track generated sales totalling almost 1.8 million Euros in 2007. The market research company will trade as GfK Chart-Track Limited in future. GfK Chart-Track also stated that it would aim to provide an upgraded offer to the games and music industry, by combining system, team capacity and expertise.