First the good news.
According to exclusive data from the BPI and Official Charts Company, the UK recorded music market had another strong quarter.
But that comes with a sting in the tail: the continuing chart squeeze for British talent. The Top 10 singles for the year to date features no UK talent. US singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is at No.1 with Stick Season (1,716,112 sales in 2024 and total sales of 2,270,030). For Q3 alone, Myle Smith's Stargazing (748,024 units) is the sole British entry in the quarter's overall Top 10.
In Q3, Album Equivalent Sales (AES) for overall consumption were up 10.2% year-on-year to 48,669,682 units. For the year to date, it’s just shy of 10% year-on-year growth (9.9% – 147,218,108 units).
Streaming consumption was up 11.4% in Q3, consistent for the year with to-date streaming consumption up 11.2% in 2024.
Back in the summer, Music Week reported on the scale of the US chart invasion that has been crowding out UK talent from the upper echelons of the chart, at least until Charli XCX and Chase & Status and Stormzy restored some honour for domestic talent.
UK-signed, Irish singer-songwriter Hozier also spent a week at the singles summit with Too Sweet. But otherwise, the singles chart has been dominated by US talent for 35 out of 40 weeks (plus an extra week with Billie Eilish alongside Charli XCX). Sabrina Carpenter accounts for just over half of that US total (18 weeks).
The impact on domestic talent is also seen in the singles Top 5 with a lack of UK stars. Myles Smith, Central Cee, Dua Lipa, Artemas, Cassö (alongside Raye & D-Block Europe) and Bl3ss, Camrin Watson & Bbyclose are the only UK acts to join Charli XCX and Chase & Status and Stormzy in the Top 5 this year with a current (non-catalogue) release.
Speaking to Music Week recently about the chart squeeze, BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist said: “We perhaps need to consider what we take success to mean and how it should be measured. Achieving a No.1 of course remains an important signal of success, and one that we all rightly celebrate as an industry, but it’s not the only one, and given how streaming now impacts music discovery and consumption, we should equally recognise that success can build over a much longer period to become just as meaningful.”
It’s certainly true that UK acts can make a streaming impact without making the UK Top 5. Alibi by Ella Henderson feat. Rudimental breached the Top 10 for just a single week, but has still managed to become the 29th biggest single of the year so far (571,006 units in 2024).
With the right approach and support, we can sustain our proud track record of developing world-class artists
Dr Jo Twist
At a time when domestic repertoire is strengthening around the world, however, the UK appears to be less attached to this trend for so-called ‘glocalisation’.
“We share our language and much of our music culture heritage with other major English-speaking markets, not least the US and Canada – so inevitably there is going to be much greater cross-pollination and cultural overlap in our case,” suggested Twist.
For the year to date, there are also no frontline UK album releases in the overall Top 10, although catalogue titles by Fleetwood Mac, Oasis and Elton John do appear. Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is way out in front on 667,452 units up to the end of Q3 (week 39).
Two current UK album releases to make the Q3 year-to-date Top 40 include Charl XCX’s Brat (No.20, 156,810 units) and Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism (No.31, 122,664 units). The Last Dinner Party are at No.67 overall for 2024 with Prelude To Ecstasy (82,404 units).
Of course, the domestic charts are just part of a global picture, and the UK remains one of the few net exporters of music – albeit amid intensifying competition.
“With the right approach and support, we can sustain our proud track record of developing world-class artists,” said Twist. “We have incredible skills and talent in this country – not just the frontline artists, but the producers, technicians and other creatives behind the mic, and we are consistently innovative as an industry, harnessing the power of new technologies to create ever more choice for fans and artists alike in the way music can be made, discovered, shared and enjoyed.”
UK stars who have made a strong impression on US and international charts this year include Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Central Cee, Artemas and Myles Smith.
“But action is required,” said Twist, “not least support for UK record labels and the wider recorded music sector at home to create more of an environment in which they can thrive and be valued for the investment they make in new talent, and in being innovative and taking significant risks as part of this artistic process.”
The BPI boss urged the safeguarding of the UK’s copyright framework amid the threat from AI, and warned of “misguided regulation that would damage our finely tuned music ecosystem” at a time when streaming remuneration remains under discussion by policy-makers.
She also called for more “support to help grow our share of global exports”, and the BPI will be pressing its case to government to expand the MEGS scheme to boost our talent globally.
Of course, the challenge for domestic acts comes at a time when major labels – both Universal Music and Warner Music – are both being overhauled as part of a global plan.
“Record labels, like all organisations, have to evolve to remain relevant and successful and to best achieve their goals and to serve the needs of who they work with – in this case the artists – and their stakeholders as effectively as possible,” said Twist. “They are also adapting their businesses by investing in digital systems so their artists can be supported in a multiplatform, global environment. They, more than anyone, will know best what’s needed, and I would not presume to comment on what they should or should not be doing, but we know that artists will, as ever, remain at the heart of everything they do.”
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