Home-grown acts, a surge in streaming and resilient demand for physical formats fuel a 9.5 per cent rise in music consumption in 2017
135.1 million albums or their equivalent were either streamed, purchased or downloaded in 2017
68.1 billion audio streams were served – now accounting for over half of UK music consumption
Second week in December sees new milestone of more than 1.5 billion audio streams in a single week
Vinyl up 26.8 per cent as unit sales hit 4m mark; LPs now account for nearly one in ten physical purchases
UK acts make up eight of top-ten best-selling artist albums; 13th year in a row top-seller is from UK
Ed Sheeran enjoys remarkable success across all formats and is joined by Rag‘n’Bone Man, Sam Smith, Little Mix, Stormzy, Dua Lipa and other Brits to lead another strong year for British music
OFFICIAL figures released today by record labels’ association the BPI, based on Official Charts Company data, reveal a strong year for British recorded music, with UK consumption across all formats in 2017 growing at its fastest rate this millennium(1).
A total of 135.1 million albums or their equivalent(2) were either streamed, purchased on physical format, and/or downloaded over the past 12 months(3).
This represents a 9.5 per cent rise on 2016 and marks a third year of consecutive volume growth. The amount of music consumed corresponds to a retail value estimated by the Entertainment Retailers Association to be worth around £1.2 billion(4).
UK acts accounted for eight of the top-ten best-selling artist albums in 2017, with Ed Sheeran leading another successful year for British artists by laying claim to his own personal ‘grand slam’.
Divide was the year’s most streamed, physically purchased (both on CD and LP) and downloaded album – marking the 13th year in a row that the best-selling artist album has come from a British act(5).
Ed also claimed the year’s biggest single with Shape of You, whilst his hit, Perfect, gave him his first Christmas No.1 single to round off a remarkable year.
The strength of the home market was further underlined by the emergence of Rag’n’Bone Man as a major new force in British music, alongside exciting solo acts such as Stormzy, Dua Lipa, J Hus, BRIT School alumnus, Loyle Carner, and Mercury Prize winner, Sampha.
There were also impressive first-time No.1 albums from Liam Gallagher, Paloma Faith and Harry Styles, whilst Little Mix continued to power on as one of the UK’s most successful acts – their 2016 release, Glory Days, is heading towards 3xPlatinum status and was in the year’s top five best-selling artist albums.
Sam Smith’s The Thrill of It All also made the year’s artist top five to consolidate his status as a major star around the world, while Michael Ball and Alfie Boe followed up 2016’s debut success with Together Again claiming a top ten spot. Taking compilation sales into account, the Official Chart for combined albums featured three Now titles – Now 97, Now 98 and Now 96 – in the overall top five.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive BPI and BRIT Awards, said: “Demand for music in the UK is growing fast, driven by brilliant British artists such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Rag‘n’Bone Man, Little Mix, Stormzy and Dua Lipa and the innovative music industry that supports them.
“Whilst the rapid growth of streaming and resilient demand for physical formats gives us confidence for the future, it is important to remember that the music industry still has a long way to go to recover fully.
“Structural challenges must be overcome if long-term growth is to be sustained. First, we must continue to fight the ‘Value Gap’[6], so that all digital platforms pay fairly for their use of music.
“Second, Government must ensure our musicians are able to tour freely even after we leave the EU.
“Finally, we should make the UK the best place to invest in new content by forging an online environment that is safe for consumers and where illegal sites cannot flourish. If we do this, the future for British music, which is already one of our leading exports, will be very bright.”
Streaming now accounts for over half of UK music consumption; 1.5bn weekly streams milestone
The year’s strong growth in demand for recorded music was driven by a staggering 68.1 billion audio streams served through Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and other audio streaming services. This represents a 51.5 per cent rise on 2016 and a remarkable 1,740 per cent increase since 2012.
Streaming now accounts for over half (50.4 per cent) of all domestic music consumption, and in December the market witnessed a new landmark of 1.5 billion audio streams in a single week(7).
Ed Sheeran was the year’s most-streamed artist, ahead of Drake, with Shape of You the most-streamed song and four tracks in the top ten. Little Mix were the third most-streamed, while Calvin Harris, Coldplay and Stormzy also made the top ten.
Vinyl LPs enjoy a decade of consecutive growth, with over four million copies purchased in 2017
The vinyl revival continues, with 4.1 million LPs purchased in 2017 – a rise of 26.8 per cent over the 12-month period and up by a notable 1,892 per cent since their low point of just 205,000 copies sold in 2007. Vinyl LP sales are now at their highest level since the start of the nineties (1991), with close to 40,000 albums released on vinyl in 20178. Nearly one in ten of all physical purchases are now on vinyl format.
Though still relatively small compared to streaming (50.4 per cent) and even CD (30.8 per cent), vinyl increasingly occupies a growing niche that now accounts for 3.0 per cent of the music consumed.
The format has become part of an established multi-channel landscape where many consumers of all backgrounds appreciate the utility of streaming services to discover music that is new to them and which cater to their daily listening needs, whilst purchasing recordings by favoured artists on vinyl and CD that they may wish to gift, own and collect.
Ed Sheeran’s Divide was the most-purchased album on vinyl LP (and on CD), ahead of Liam Gallagher, whose first solo release, As You Were, enjoyed the highest week one sales of the year and in over 20 years. Amy Winehouse’s classic, Back To Black, claimed a top five spot for the third year in a row, whilst Rag’n’Bone Man, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Oasis and David Bowie were other British artists to make up the vinyl LP top ten.
Vanessa Higgins, CEO Regent St and Gold Bar Records, and an independent label member of BPI Council who heads up the BPI’s Innovation Hub, said: “Music is now made and enjoyed in so many ways, and this process is constantly evolving to create ever-greater choice.
“Smart speakers are just the latest innovation likely to have a transformative effect on digital music consumption and discovery, and how this develops may well be the story of 2018.
“As an independent label, we look forward to continuing advancements in technology that will enable even more, smaller artists to produce new music and find their audience, not least on vinyl.”
Matt Ingham of independent label, Cherry Red Records, famous for its catalogue on vinyl and CD, said: “The music industry is in a permanent state of transformation. Genuine discovery is coming from the fresh resurgence in vinyl, the robust CD market and via the burgeoning streaming platforms.
“The combination of new and old technology means the industry can continue to rise to the challenge of providing the public with music to treasure forever.”
ENDS
Enquiries:
Gennaro Castaldo gennaro.castaldo@bpi.co.uk +44 (0)207 803 1326 / +44 (0)7801 194 139.
Notes for editors:
1. UK music consumption in 2000 grew by 8.7 per cent. The most recent bigger increase was ten per cent in 1998.
2. Album Equivalent Sales (AES) is a standard industry metric enabling sales and streaming to be measured on a comparable basis so that total music consumption can effectively be gauged. This analysis converts all streams and sales data to ‘Album Equivalent Sales’ (AES).
Physical and digital album sales have been included as per the Official Charts database, but the cumulative total for individual track sales has been divided by ten (to provide a ‘Track Equivalent Album'(TEA) figure) while the audio streaming total has been divided by 1,000 (as 100 streams=one track sale and ten track sales=one album) to provide a Stream Equivalent Albums (SEA) figure.
3. The reporting year is based on the Official Charts sales data weeks 1-52 (ending 29 December 2017).
4. Retail value is based on Entertainment Retailers Association estimates. Please contact ERA for more details https://eraltd.org/
5. Official Charts best-selling UK album: 2005 – 2017 – Ed Sheeran ‘Divide’ (2017), Adele ’25’ (2016), Adele ‘25’ (2015), Ed Sheeran ‘X’ (2014), One Direction ‘Midnight Memories’ (2013), Emeli Sandé ‘Our Version Of Events’ (2012), Adele ‘21’ (2011), Take That ‘Progress’ (2010), Susan Boyle ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ (2009), Duffy ‘Rockferry’ (2008), Amy Winehouse ‘Back To Black’ (2007), Snow Patrol ‘Eyes Open’ (2006), and James Blunt ‘Back To Bedlam’ (2005).
6. ‘Value Gap’ describes the disparity between consumption and revenues generated by certain pure ad-supported digital platforms, resulting from copyright loophole ‘safe harbours’ in legislation.
7. 1.5 billion audio streams were served by streaming services in the second week of December 2017.
8. Vinyl – The Official Charts Company began tracking retail sales in 1994. An estimate has therefore been made on the basis of the BPI’s own trade shipment data to establish sales of LPs prior to this, which the BPI estimates are at their highest level since 1991. The number of vinyl releases for 2017 is based on data supplied by Millward Brown.
Chart one – OFFICIAL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2017 – © Official Charts Company
Position – artist and title – label/company/group
1. Ed Sheeran ‘Divide’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
2. Rag’n’Bone Man ‘Human’ – Best Laid Plans/Columbia/Columbia Label Group/Sony Music
3. Sam Smith ‘The Thrill Of It All’ – Capitol/Capitol/Universal Music
4. Little Mix ‘Glory Days’ – Syco Music/Syco Music/Sony Music
5. Pink ‘Beautiful Trauma’ – RCA/RCA Label Group/Sony Music
6. Ed Sheeran ‘x’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
7. Michael Ball and Alfie Boe ‘Together Again’ – Decca/Decca/Universal Music
8. Drake ‘More Life’ – Cash Money/Republic Records/Island/Universal Music
9. Liam Gallagher ‘As You Were’ – Warner Bros/Warner Bros/Warner Music
10. Stormzy ‘Gang Signs and Prayer’ – Merky/Merky/Merky
11. Roy Orbison/RPO ‘A Love So Beautiful’ – Sony Music CG/Sony Music CG/Sony Music
12. Motion Picture Cast Recording ‘Moana’ – Walt Disney/UMC/Universal Music
13. Take That ‘Wonderland’ – Polydor/Polydor/Universal Music
14. Paloma Faith ‘The Architect’ – RCA/RCA Label Group/Sony Music
15. Taylor Swift ‘Reputation’ – EMI/Virgin EMI/Universal Music
16. Ed Sheeran ‘+’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
17. George Michael ‘Listen Without Prejudice – Vol. 1’ – Sony Music CG/Sony Music CG/Sony Music
18. Adele ‘25’ – XL Recordings/XL Recordings/XL Beggars
19. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds ‘Who Built The Moon’ – Sour Mash/Sour Mash/Ignition
20. Eminem ‘Revival’ – Interscope/Polydor/Universal Music
Chart two – OFFICIAL COMBINED ALBUMS CHART 2017 – © Official Charts Company
Position – artist and title – label/company/group
1. Ed Sheeran ‘Divide’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
2. Rag’n’Bone Man ‘Human’ – Best Laid Plans/Columbia/Columbia Label Group/Sony Music
3. Various Artists ‘Now That’s What I Call Music 97’ – Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music/Universal Music
4. Various Artists ‘Now That’s What I Call Music 98’ – Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music/Universal Music
5. Various Artists ‘Now That’s What I Call Music 96’ – Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Sony Music/Universal Music
6. Sam Smith ‘The Thrill Of It All’ – Capitol/Capitol/Universal Music
7. Little Mix ‘Glory Days’ – Syco Music/Syco Music/Sony Music
8. Pink ‘Beautiful Trauma’ – RCA/RCA Label Group/Sony Music
9. Ed Sheeran ‘x’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
10. Michael Ball and Alfie Boe ‘Together Again’ – Decca/Decca/Universal Music
Chart three – OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART 2017 – © Official Charts Company
Position – artist and title – label/company/group
1. Ed Sheeran ‘Shape Of You’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
2. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft J.Bieber ‘Despacito (Remix)’ – Def Jam/RBMG/Republic/UMLE/Polydor/Universal Music
3. Ed Sheeran ‘Castle On The Hill’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
4. French Montana ft Swae Lee ‘Unforgettable’ – Black Butter/Black Butter/Sony Music
5. Ed Sheeran ‘Galway Girl’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
6. Ed Sheeran ‘Perfect’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
7. Clean Bandit ft Zara Larsson ‘Symphony’ – Atlantic/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
8. Rag’n’Bone Man ‘Human’ – Best Laid Plans/Columbia/Columbia Label Group/Sony Music
9. Chainsmokers and Coldplay ‘Something Just Like This’ – Disruptor/Parlophone/Parlophone/RCA Label Group/Sony Music/Warner Music
10. Jax Jones ft Raye ‘You Don’t Know Me’ – Polydor/Polydor/Universal Music
Chart four – OFFICIAL CHARTS MOST STREAMED ARTISTS 2017 (audio streams only, to week 50) – © Official Charts Company
Position – artist
1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. Little Mix
4. Eminem
5. The Weeknd
6. Calvin Harris
7. Coldplay
8. Kendrick Lamar
9. Stormzy
10. Post Malone
Chart five – OFFICIAL VINYL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2017 – © Official Charts Company
Position – artist and title – label/company/group
1. Ed Sheeran ‘Divide’ – Asylum/Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music
2. Liam Gallagher ‘As You Were’ – Warner Bros/Warner Bros/Warner Music
3. Fleetwood Mac ‘Rumours’ – WEA/Warner Bros/Warner Music
4. Original Soundtrack ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy – Awesome Mix 1’ – Hollywood/UMC/Universal Music
5. Amy Winehouse ‘Back To Black’ – Island/Island/Universal Music
6. Rag’n’Bone Man ‘Human’ – Best Laid Plans/Columbia/Columbia Label Group/Sony Music
7. Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ – Rhino/Rhino (Warners)/Warner Music
8. The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – Apple Corps/UMC/Universal Music
9. Oasis ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’ – Big Brother/Big Brother/Sony Music
10. David Bowie ‘Legacy’ – Parlophone/Rhino (Warners)/Warner Music
About the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) Promoting British Music
BPI champions the UK’s recorded music industry, safeguarding the rights of its members and of the artists, performers and label members of collecting body PPL.
BPI’s membership consists of over 400 independent labels and the UK’s three ‘majors’, which account for 85 per cent of legitimate domestic music consumption.
BPI promotes British music overseas through its trade missions and the Music Exports Growth Scheme. It provides insights, training and networking with its free masterclasses, Innovation Hub, Insight Sessions, and reports.
The BPI administers the Certified Awards, co-owns the Official Charts, organises The BRIT Awards and is also home to the Mercury Prize.
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