Music sales in the UK have reached a 20-year high.
Enthralled by the new major releases from Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Billie Eilish, music fans in the UK spent more on recorded music in 2024 than ever before, according to new data reported by UNN referencing the BBC.
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Streaming subscriptions and vinyl sales have surged, with consumers spending a total of £2.4 billion ($2.96 billion) over the past 12 months.
This surpasses the previous record of £2.2 billion ($2.71 billion) reached at the peak of CD sales in 2001.
The best-selling album of the year was Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, which sold 783,820 copies.
The data was provided by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), which noted that subscriptions to services like Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music accounted for nearly 85% of the money spent on music last year.
The vinyl market grew by 10.5%, with 6.7 million records sold last year, generating £196 million ($241.8 million).
CD sales remained at £126.2 million ($155.7 million), although this format still outsold vinyl in terms of units, with 10.5 million albums purchased.
ERA Chief Kim Bailey described 2024 as a "landmark year" for music, with sales more than double the low point of 2013.
"We can now say for certain - music is back," she stated in her announcement.
However, the revenues of the music industry in real terms still lag significantly behind those of 2001.
When adjusted for inflation, the industry earned the equivalent of £4 billion ($4.94 billion) in 2001, when Dido's album was the year's best-seller with sales of 1.9 million.
There are also ongoing concerns about how artists are compensated in the streaming economy.
"Unfortunately, professional musicians, artists, and songwriters are not benefiting from the boom reflected in these figures," said Naomi Paul, the union's general secretary.
ERA also reported that video has become the most popular form of home entertainment, with movie and television fans spending over £5 billion ($6.17 billion) on streaming, film rentals, and DVDs.
The best-selling film of the year was the comic book adaptation Deadpool & Wolverine, with sales of 561,917 copies, more than 80% of which were digital.
Video game revenues fell from £4.8 billion ($5.93 billion) in 2023 to £4.6 billion ($5.68 billion) last year.
These figures reflect a year of significant failures, as high-profile games like Concord, Suicide Squad, and Skull & Bones failed to find their audience, the publication notes.
There was also a massive decline in sales of boxed physical games, which dropped by 35%.
The most popular game of the year was again EA Sports FC 25 (formerly known as FIFA), which sold 2.9 million copies, 80% of which were in digital formats.
However, only four games in the top ten were new releases, and two of them were franchise updates.
The strength of the Nintendo Switch was also evident: half of the top ten included games that are exclusive to the console.