LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ BPI Official Website) - 2009 has already become the biggest ever year for UK singles with more than 117m sold to date, recorded music body the BPI today announced.
Driven by a strong release schedule and a burgeoning range of online music services in the UK, new data from the Official Charts Company shows that sales of single tracks in 2009 have now surpassed the previous all-time record of 115.1m, set in 2008. The total of 117m has been reached with 10 weeks of trading, including the vital Christmas period, still to run in 2009.
Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive said, 'We've witnessed an astonishing transformation of the UK singles market during the last six years, with digital downloads rapidly overtaking sales of CD singles and cassettes to dominate the singles scene.
'That singles have hit these heights while there are still more than a billion illegal downloads every year in the UK is testimony to the quality of releases this year and the vibrancy of the UK download market. Consumers are responding to the value and innovation offered by the legal services and these new figures show how the market could explode if Government acts to tackle illegal peer-to-peer filesharing.'
Unlike the albums market which is overwhelmingly dominated by CD sales, the UK Top 40 is now almost entirely comprised of digital singles. During this year, 98.6% of all singles have been retailed in digital formats. More than 389.2m single track downloads have now been sold in the UK since the launch of the first mainstream online stores in 2004.
Kim Bayley, Director General of the Entertainment Retailers Association said: 'In the physical world of CDs the UK has long been the world leader in music consumption thanks to the huge number and variety of stores which sell music. Now in digital we are seeing similar success thanks in no small part to the big investments made by retailers in digital stores. The future of music will be the partnership of great music with great ways to buy music.'
Martin Talbot, Managing Director of the Official Charts Company, said: 'The explosion in the singles market has been nothing short of astonishing this year, driven by big sellers from Lady Gaga, La Roux, Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen and Black Eyed Peas.
'What is so encouraging about this growth is that it looks likely to continue right through to the end of the year - in the past 10 days alone, we have seen Alexandra Burke, Robbie Williams and, this week, Cheryl Cole releasing three more singles which are already rivalling the biggest sales totals of this year. This truly is the era of the digital single.'
Retail sales of singles by format
Physical - Digital - Total Sales
2002 - 43.9m - - - 43.9m
2003 - 30.8m - - - 30.8m
2004 - 26.5m - 5.7m - 32.2m
2005 - 21.4m - 26.4m - 47.8m
2006 - 13.9m - 53.0m - 66.9m
2007 - 8.6m - 77.9m - 86.5m
2008 - 4.9m - 110.2m - 115.1m
2009 YTD - 1.6m - 116.0m - 117.6m
Source: The Official Charts Company.
2009 best selling singles so far
1. Poker Face - Lady Gaga
2. Just Dance - Lady Gaga
3. I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
4. In For The Kill - La Roux
5. Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
Source: The Official Charts Company.
About BPI
The BPI is the representative voice of the UK recorded music business. We are a trade organisation funded by our members - which include the UK's four major record labels and hundreds of independent music companies. BPI members account for approximately 90% of all recorded music sold in the UK, and globally the UK's recorded music market is the third biggest.
The BPI also organises the annual BRIT Awards show as well as the Classical BRIT Awards show. The organising company BRIT Awards limited, is a fully owned subsidiary of the BPI. Substantial proceeds from both shows go to the BRIT Trust, the charitable arm of the BPI that has donated almost �15m to charitable causes nationwide, since its foundation in 1989.
