On the eve of BRIT Awards 2006 with MasterCard, new BPI figures show British music is on a seven year high.UK record industry trade association the BPI says that the British share of UK album sales in 2005 was at its highest since 1998.

  • Nearly half of CD albums sold in the UK in 2005 were by British acts
  • The record industry sold more UK albums than ever before
  • Six UK albums topped 1 million sales to break the top ten
  • Ninety UK albums sold more than 100,000 copies Resurgence in UK

musicUK acts claimed 49.4% of all artist (non-compilation) album sales in the UK in 2005, an increase of seven percentage points on 2004. At 57 million, this represents the greatest number of albums ever sold by UK musicians in a single year.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said "It all means that tomorrow's BRIT Awards show is shaping up to be one of the best yet."

Percentage of Album sales by nationality (1998-2005)  

year UK USA OTHER
1998 51.0 29.3 19.7
1999 47.0 32.3 20.7
2000 47.6 36.0 16.4
2001 47.4 39.2 13.4
2002 44.1 40.7 15.2
2003 42.3 45.4 12.3
2004 42.4 41.7 15.9
2005 49.4 37.7 12.9

 

The Top Ten UK Albums, 2005
1 Back To Bedlam James Blunt (Atlantic)
2 X & Y Coldplay (Parlophone)
3 Intensive Care Robbie Williams (Chrysalis)
4 Employment Kaiser Chiefs (B Unique/Polydor)
5 Demon Days Gorillaz (Parlophone)
6 Eye To The Telescope KT Tunstall (Relentless/Virgin)
7 Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits Faithless (Cheeky/BMG)
8 Don’t Believe The Truth Oasis (Big Brother)
9 Hopes & Fears Keane (Island)
10 Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection Take That (RCA)