british music

British acts secure record share of world market.
Adele and One Direction lead the UK’s global surge.
Brit claim the world’s No.1 selling album for fifth time in six years.
US invasion in 2012 – four British albums in American Top 5.
Five of the top ten biggest global sellers of 2012 were by British artists.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, today hailed the phenomenal global success of British music as new BPI figures revealed big-selling albums by Adele, Emeli Sandé, One Direction and Ed Sheeran boosted UK artists’ share of album sales globally to 13.3% in 2012, the highest on record.

Building on 2011’s global artist album share of 12.6%, British acts have now claimed the world’s top-selling album for five of the last six years.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, welcomed the figures saying,

“We should be extremely proud of how our world-leading music industry continues to go from strength to strength, with a record share of the global market and with British acts having the world’s top selling album for five of the last six years. British music is enjoyed across the world and we will keep backing our creative industries that support jobs, create opportunities and contribute to the economy.”

Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive, said,

“Music is fundamental to Britain’s identity as a nation and the world is singing with us. Led by Adele’s 21, the global top-seller for the second year running, our artists are having hits all around the world. From One Direction’s sensational, record-breaking US achievements, global smash albums from Muse and Mumford & Sons and breakthrough debuts for Emeli Sandé and Ed Sheeran, our musicians and labels are doing us proud.”

“As music goes digital, Britain has the potential to be even more successful, connecting instantly with fans who love our music wherever they may live. The time is right for Government to back innovative businesses like music that can lead the economy back to growth”.

BPI Chairman Tony Wadsworth added,

“British music continues to be global export success story. It puts Britain on the map, culturally and economically, generating jobs both at home and abroad. We’ve built on a strong musical heritage to cement our position as a creative powerhouse with enormous potential for growth in the digital age. It remains important that Government supports our creative industries to give us every opportunity to compete on the world stage.”

For a second consecutive year, Adele’s 21 was the top-selling album in the world with over 26m sales to date. 21 was the biggest seller of 2012 in many of the world’s biggest music markets, including the USA, Canada, France and The Netherlands.

Global hit albums from One Direction, Emeli Sandé, Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Sons also confirmed Britain’s proud record of developing and breaking talent on the world stage. One Direction smashed records Stateside in 2012, becoming the first UK group to have their debut album enter the US chart at No.1. Both 1D albums – Up All Night and Take Me Home – made the global year-end top five.

Two debut albums, Emeli Sandé’s Our Version Of Events and Ed Sheeran’s +, also featured in the global top 20. Strong worldwide sales were also achieved by albums from established British acts including Coldplay, Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin and Muse.

In the USA – the world’s most competitive music market – British music staged something of an invasion, accounting for one in seven (13.7%) of artist albums sold in 2012, their biggest share on record. Adele, One Direction’s two titles and Mumford & Sons claimed four of the five biggest-selling artist albums.

British bands continued to do well at home, taking a 51.9% albums share, seven of the top ten selling artist albums of 2012 and the entire top three. Emeli Sandé’s Our Version Of Events was the biggest seller of 2012, ending the year with 1.4m copies sold. Adele’s 21 ended 2012 in second place, with + by Ed Sheeran finishing at No.3.

UK artists increased their share of the French albums market to 18.3% – the highest since 2003 – with top 40 year-end placings from Adele, Muse, and Coldplay alongside breakthrough artists Birdy, One Direction and Emeli Sandé. Another European success story was the Netherlands, where one in four album sales (26.3%) were by British acts in 2012. This included an impressive one-two from Adele (21 and Live At The Royal Albert Hall) and debut artist Birdy.

2012 Global Best-Selling Albums by British Artists

	Global Ranking	Artist	Title	Company
1	1	Adele	21	XL Recordings
2	3	One Direction	Up All Night	Sony
3	4	One Direction	Take Me Home	Sony
4	8	Rod Stewart	Merry Christmas Baby	Universal
5	10	Mumford & Sons	Babel	Universal / Glassnote / Sony
6	13	Led Zeppelin	Celebration Day	Warner
7	15	Ed Sheeran	+	Warner
8	18	Emeli Sande	Our Version of Events	EMI
9	21	Muse	The 2nd Law	Warner
10	24	Adele	19	XL Recordings

Global Best-Selling Artist Albums 2007-2012

Year	Artist	Album
2012	Adele	21
2011	Adele	21
2010	Eminem	Recovery
2009	Susan Boyle	I Dreamed A Dream
2008	Coldplay	Viva La Vida
2007	Amy Winehouse	Back To Black

NOTES FOR EDITORS

For further information, please contact:

Adam Liversage on 020 7803 1326 / 0780 117 9032 or email adam@bpi.co.uk
Lynne McDowell on 020 7803 1395 / 07763 619709 or email lynne@bpi.co.uk

About BPI
The BPI is the representative voice of the UK recorded music business. The BPI is a trade organisation funded by its members – which include hundreds of independent music companies and the UK’s major record labels. The BPI’s members account for approximately 90% of all recorded music sold in the UK, and globally the UK’s recorded music market is the fourth biggest.

The BPI also organises the annual BRIT Awards show as well as the Classic 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.