Taylor Swift helps UK music sales hit a new record for the first time in TWO decades
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Levels of UK music consumption have hit an all-time record beating the previous pinnacle of twenty years earlier, new figures have revealed. Driven by the success of streaming services and the revival of vinyl sales, the 'equivalent' of 201.4 million albums were sold last year, passing the earlier record that was set in 2004 during the 'CD boom'.
![[This success was driven in part by top performing artists like Taylor Swift , whose The Tortured Poets Department release was the top-selling album of the year, with 783,820 sales]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/07/23/93847729-14260875-image-a-41_1736293370041.jpg)
UK consumer spending on recorded music, including subscriptions and purchases, hit £2.39bn, breaking the previous record of £2.22bn, set in 2001, according to digital entertainment and retail association ERA. The boss of the ERA, which is the trade association for music, video and video-games, heralded the figures as the 'stunning culmination' of 'music's comeback', saying sales had more than doubled since the 2013 'low point'.
![[Last year streaming equated to the equivalent of 178 million albums alone. Music revenues overall were up by 7.4 per cent in 2024 (stock image)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/07/23/93847733-14260875-image-a-43_1736293437112.jpg)
This success was driven in part by top performing artists like Taylor Swift, whose The Tortured Poets Department release was the top-selling album of the year, with 783,820 sales. This included 111,937 copies sold on vinyl. Noah Kahan's Stick Season was the top single of the year with the equivalent of 1.99m sales.
![[But there was less good news for the video games market, which was down by 4.4 per cent, as revenues from physical game sales plummeted by almost 35 per cent (stock image)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/07/23/93847865-14260875-image-a-44_1736293647340.jpg)
In the year vinyl album sales grew by 10.5 per cent to £196m, while CD album revenues were flat at £126.2m. This meant physical sales of music were up by 6.2 per cent. Driven by the success of streaming services and the revival of vinyl sales, the 'equivalent' of 201.4 million albums were sold last year, passing the earlier record that was set in 2004 during the 'CD boom' (stock image).
![[This reflects the fact that subscription model gaming is becoming increasingly popular, which follows a similar model to Netflix or Spotify (stock image)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/07/23/93847879-14260875-image-a-45_1736293702701.jpg)
