UK album sales reach new high in 2003

LONDON, UK (Music Week) - CD sales in the UK have hit a record high - last year there was an increasing of 7.6% over figures froom 2002.

In a new industry report the rise was said to have following the fall in CD prices - this in spite of piracy fears.
121 million artist albums, (excluding compilations CDs), had been sold - according to Official UK Charts Company figures quoted in Music Week magazine.
Dido had the year's best-selling album with Life For Rent, followed by Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

In the singles market, the Black Eyed Peas had the biggest seller of 2003. But there was no good news for the singles market as overall sales continued to slide, with a drop of nearly 30%. Black Eyed Peas sold 625,000 copies of the Where is the Love?, which stayed at number one for six weeks.
Their follow-up track Shut Up shifted 222,000 to make them the biggest selling artists of the year in terms of single sales.
But their overall sales of 848,000 units pales next to Will Young's tally of 2,520,000 singles sold in 2002. It seems consumers get revenge about the 'low' quality 'pop stars' and 'pop idols' cd singles, which dominated the UK Singles market within 2003.