Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa are among the artists with the most physical sales, as vinyl copies continue to remain popular. Data suggests that the CD could be set for its very own revival…
The new statistics from the Official Charts Company and BPI detail a 3.2% increase in physical music sales in the first half of 2024, with 8,044,760 units sold in the UK.
This marks the first time figures have risen since the streaming boom that began in 2004.
Indeed, overall physical album sales have not registered a year-on-year increase since 2004, when there was a 2.6% uplift to 163.4 million units.
At the same midway point in 2023, physical albums growth was still negative (-0.3%), while the 12-month result last year was down 1.1%.
The vinyl boom has not yet put physical music into positive growth in recent years; CD is still the dominant format in unit terms. It has seen large declines, but this could change in 2024.
Vinyl remains once again the driver with a 12.4% year-on-year increase for the first six months to 3,052,498 units. CD sales for the half-year were down 1.5% to 4,911,845 units. While thsi figure represents a loss of around 75,000 sales, it marks a significant slowing of decline compared to recent years and could also suggest that CD is set for its very own revival.
Speaking to Music Week for their half-year analysis, BPI’s chief executive Jo Twist said: “Ever since sales of vinyl LPs started rising again more than 15 years ago, the compact disc has been in the shadow of the older physical format, so it’s heartening to see that, after years of significant declines, the CD market is potentially on the up again.”
Twist added: “Thanks to record labels, music fans now have more choice than ever to enjoy releases by their favourite artists, from the mass-market penetration of streaming to an array of physical formats which have a complementary relationship to streaming and help to reinforce the special bond that exists between creator and consumer.”
Regarding vinyl, Twist stated: “This much-loved format has seen demand grow consistently for nearly two decades, including among younger and more diverse consumers who stream daily but also love to own their favourite music on physical formats.”
A big part of the physical music boom in 2024 is down to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which has been the biggest contributor to the increase in sales, shifting 254,241 copies in the first six months of 2024.
Other records in the Top 5 for most physical sales were Rod Stewart and Jools Holland’s collaborative album ‘Swing Fever’, which sold 48,540 copies; the self-titled album from Liam Gallagher and John Squire, with 46,982 copies; Billie Eilish’s ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’, with 45,434 copies; The Last Dinner Party’s debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, with 42,352 copies.
Dua Lipa’s new album ‘Radical Optimism’ was at No. 6 overall for physical sales, although based on vinyl sales alone it made No. 5 overall for the first six months.
The news follows an upward trajectory for vinyl sales this year. In April, vinyl sales enjoyed their highest weekly total sales in three decades, thanks to Record Store Day and the release of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ in the same week. Data from the Official Charts Company showed that the two events resulted in 269,134 vinyl albums and 37,656 vinyl singles sales – making for a total of 306,791 units.
Outside of the UK, vinyl is in a strong position compared with CDs in France and the United States, for example. Streaming accounts for the lion’s share of music market revenues, but physical media is also on the rise.
In France, physical media represents a small but significant quarter of recorded music sales. The SNEP (Syndicat national de l’édition phonographique) stated in its 2023 annual report that 24% of the €815 million generated last year came from CDs and vinyl, in almost equal shares: €97 million for the former and €94 million for the latter – which was a +5.5% increase compared to 2022.
Last year in France, 10.5 million CDs were sold in 2023, compared with 5.5 million vinyls, which are more expensive. More than half of vinyl buyers (54%) are under 35, compared with 43% of CD buyers.
The SNEP explained that these “dynamic” physical sales are the result of a “still powerful and atypical” distribution network that is specific to France, with chains such as Fnac, Leclerc and Cultura, complemented by a large network of independent record shops.
As for the US, with 43 million vinyl records sold last year, the format has overtaken the CD (37 million), according to figures from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Vinyl sales accounted for $1.4 billion, compared with $537 million for CDs.
Also – for the record, so to speak – half a million audio cassettes were also sold in the US in 2023.
In all, physical music formats accounted for 11% of 2023 revenues in the US, compared with 84% for streaming, which continues to dominate.
