{"id":10350,"slug":"african-chart-breadth-mean-vs-median-13aug-14nov-2026","title":"Mean against median: the same half-over-half comparison on three columns of this desk’s African Spotify chart series, 62 readings to 14 November 2026","source":"This desk's own african-presence-over-time series, 62 collection dates from 13 August to 14 November 2026","source_url":"","source_type":"computed","method":"The same split used throughout this desk's breadth reporting, 62 readings cut into two halves of 31 by position in the series, recomputed with the median in place of the mean. For each of three columns the statistic is taken across the 31 readings in each half and the percentage change between the two halves reported. Means are rounded to two decimal places, medians are exact for the breadth and artist columns because both are integer counts with an even number of readings in each half resolving to a whole number, and change_pct is rounded to two decimal places. The table exists because the two statistics disagree on one of the three columns and that disagreement is the finding rather than a footnote: a mean that falls while the median holds means the change is in the upper tail of the distribution and not in its centre, so the typical reading did not get worse and the best readings stopped happening. Collection dates are not evenly spaced, so both statistics are taken over readings and not over days.","unit":"","license":"Afrobeats Wire's compilation and analysis are licensed CC BY 4.0. Rights in the underlying source data remain with the source named above.","confidence":"high","retrieved":"2026-11-15 14:00:28","n":6,"first_party":0,"columns":[{"key":"series_column","label":"Column","type":"text"},{"key":"statistic","label":"Statistic","type":"text"},{"key":"first_half","label":"First 31 readings","type":"number"},{"key":"second_half","label":"Last 31 readings","type":"number"},{"key":"change_pct","label":"Change, %","type":"number"}],"rows":[{"series_column":"Charts carrying any African artist","statistic":"Mean","first_half":9.13,"second_half":7.74,"change_pct":-15.19},{"series_column":"Charts carrying any African artist","statistic":"Median","first_half":8,"second_half":8,"change_pct":0},{"series_column":"African artists charting","statistic":"Mean","first_half":111.32,"second_half":111.87,"change_pct":0.49},{"series_column":"African artists charting","statistic":"Median","first_half":112,"second_half":112,"change_pct":0},{"series_column":"Share of African chart streams earned outside Africa, %","statistic":"Mean","first_half":1.93,"second_half":1.27,"change_pct":-33.99},{"series_column":"Share of African chart streams earned outside Africa, %","statistic":"Median","first_half":1.984,"second_half":1.312,"change_pct":-33.87}]}