UK’s recorded music market grows by 10 per cent in 2024
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(Credits: Harley Weir)
The recorded music market in the UK enjoyed a positive year in 2024 after growing by 10 per cent, with sales of streaming and physical formats increasing for the first time in two decades.
According to new research by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) based on data from the Official Charts, sales and streams rose 9.7 per cent to 200.5 million albums in the past year, marking a full decade of uninterrupted growth.
For the first time since 1994, physical album sales have increased by 1.4 per cent yearly, marking the 17th rise in vinyl record purchases. While CD sales have continued to decline, the rise in vinyl sales, which have been up 9.1 per cent to 6.7 million units, has contributed to this.
With streaming outlets, these rose by 11 per cent to 199.6 billion, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of total music consumption. This is in part owing to the increase in successful female artists, who dominated the charts throughout 2024, with albums like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, The Last Dinner Party, Chappell Roan, and others soaring to the top.
Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department enjoyed a particularly successful run with 783,000 sales by the end of December—the most for any artist since 2017. Brat was also one of the 12 albums by solo women or groups to top the album charts in 2024, while Sabrina Carpenter dominated the singles charts with 21 weeks at the top with ‘Espresso’, ‘Please Please Please’, and ‘Taste’.
According to BPI Chief Executive Dr. Jo Twist, “The UK’s creative output and human creativity is being placed at risk by proposed changes to British copyright law, which would allow international tech giants to train AI models on artists’ work without payment or permission, and would be the wrong way to realise the exciting potential of AI. Meanwhile, streaming fraud is also a rising concern.”
Twist also said that the value of British music will be protected and the industry will continue to grow so long as it meets “the growing global challenge head-on, tackling challenges around AI, copyright and streaming fraud, and encouraging consumers towards viable models, like paid streaming subscriptions.”
She added: “The UK remains a world music power, but this status cannot be taken for granted: we need a supportive policy environment that puts the focus on human artistry and enables continued investment in the next generation of British talent.”
Although the new data proves that 2017 was a successful and positive year for the UK music market, many artists have continued to strive for a more equitable industry. They are raising concerns about the potential of AI and other detrimental facets to cause a bigger rift between smaller and more established artists and the distribution of music royalties.
Artists including Peter Hook, Nick Cave, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey, and James Blake have recently shared their concerns about the harm of AI in the industry. Cave said, “Its intent is to completely sidestep the sort of inconvenience of the artistic struggle,” describing its potential as “frightening.”
With the latest positives coming to light, many hope the industry will work to establish a better and more sustainable framework for everybody in 2025, not just with technological developments but across all practices.
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