Good performances by domestic talent pushed British artist album sales up nearly 9% in units during the third quarter of 2005.
According to figures unveiled Oct. 10 by the British Phonographic Industry, over-the-counter sales of individual artist albums rose 8.9% to 24.2 million units for the July-September period, compared to the same period of 2004.
However, falling compilation sales meant the overall albums market grew only 1.4% to 33.4 million units. BPI does not disclose quarterly value figures.
British acts, led by James Blunt and his “Back to Bedlam” five-time platinum hit (Atlantic Records), accounted for seven out of the top 10 best-selling albums.
Blunt was followed by Coldplay’s “X&Y” (Parlophone) and “Employment” from the Kaiser Chiefs (B Unique/Polydor).
“Despite grim reports from the high street throughout the third quarter, with retailers citing the London bombings in July and declining consumer confidence, quarterly album sales managed to improve year on year,” says a BPI spokesperson.
Rapid growth in single-track downloads also contributed to a fruitful singles sector in the third quarter. Although physical sales slumped 22% to 3.7 million units, downloads soared 288% to 6.8 million units, the BPI says.
This helped boost overall singles sales by 49% to a total of 11.4 million units.
The BPI also disclosed that close to 25 million single-track downloads have been sold in the United Kingdom so far, with 16.9 million sold so far in 2005.
The organization added that downloads account for 60%-plus of the total single tracks sales every week, compared to 3.6% at the start of 2004.
Blunt’s single “You’re Beautiful” has become the best-selling download of all time in the U.K.
