04.01.18: The chart success of UK artists, the resurgence of vinyl records and increased streaming consumption triggered the biggest rise in British music sales for two decades.

Digital streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music have delivered 1 billion audio streams in 2017 – now accounting for over half of all UK music consumption.

The popularity of music streaming is breaking records.  The second week in December alone saw more than 1.5 billion audio streams in a single week.

British music lovers streamed, bought and downloaded 1 million albums in 2017, and while CD album sales dropped, LPs were revealed to now account for almost 1 in 10 physical purchases in the UK, rising 26.8% last year alone.

However, the sales success is down to the quality of home-grown artists dominating the charts this year. UK artists made up eight of the top-10 best-selling albums in 2017, and it was the 13th year in a row that a Brit took home top-selling artist of the year.

No stranger to the top 10, Suffolk‘s Ed Sheeran enjoyed remarkable success across all formats, in the company of artists such as Rag‘n’Bone Man, Sam Smith, Little Mix, Stormzy, Dua Lipa and other Brits to lead yet another strong year for British Music.

Michael Dugher, Chief Executive of UK Music commented:

“These figures show just how well the British music industry is doing and continues to show promising growth in a market where consumption continues to evolve.

“BPI CEO Geoff Taylor is also right to warn about the impact of Brexit, and the need for YouTube to fairly reward creators & investors which we hope to see happen in 2018.”

The full BPI report can be viewed here and for further analysis of the economic contribution of the UK music sector to the economy, read our Measuring Music Report here.

Michael spoke to BBC Sheffield this morning (Jan 4th 2018) about the new figures, you can listen to it here at 52:30.