UK music sales hit record-breaking high of £2.39 billion in 2024
Overtaking the previous record of £2.22 billion at the height of the CD era in 2001, stats reveal that spending on vinyl and streaming services are behind the boom
UK music sales hit a record-breaking £2.39 billion in 2024, according to statistics from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA).
Beating the previous record of £2.22 billion at the height of the CD era in 2001, figures reveal that last year saw spending on music soar largely as a result of streaming service subscriptions and fans buying vinyl records.
Vinyl sales shot up by 10.5% to £196 million in 2024, with the year's bestselling vinyl record being Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poet's Department', followed by Oasis' 1994-released debut 'Definitely Maybe'. Recent release successes include Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short 'N Sweet' and 'BRAT' by Charli XCX.
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Despite this, physical music sales account for only 13.8% of total retail revenues at £330.1 million.
Subscription services such as Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music had a far larger industry share, accounting for nearly 85% of the money spent on music in 2024.
Elsewhere, ERA figures reveal that music consumption in the UK reached the equivalent of 201.4 million albums a year in 2024; streaming generated the equivalent of 178 million albums, beating the previous record of 172 million albums in 2004.
According to the Official Charts Company, Noah Kahan’s 'Stick Season' was the UK's biggest single of the year, generating the equivalent of 1.99 million sales.
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In light of the figures, ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: “2024 was a banner year for music, with streaming and vinyl taking the sector to all-time-high records in both value and volume."
"This is the stunning culmination of music’s comeback which has seen sales more than double since their low point in 2013. We can now say definitively - music is back.”
You can read this full report from ERA, here.
Henrietta Taylor is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter
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