Whilst the
Digital Journal reported a few days ago that the UK's best selling albums of all time have continued to grow, with Adele's '21' moving inexorably to occupy 4th spot in only two years of release, news had come in that sales of the long playing record in the UK have fallen during 2012.
The latest sales figures for the year just gone have been reported by
Billboard.
However the facts supplied by the industry trade body, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) via the
Official Charts Company, reveal changing consumer trends. When the figures are dissected they show that CD album sales declined nearly 20% to 69.4 million copies, whereas digital album sales rose by 14.8% to 30.5 million. So, the trend continues: the decline of the physical copy and the rise of the digital download. So in-tune are UK consumers with digital tracks that the
BBC notes that digital sales exceed £1 billion.
There is also a place for trust old vinyl, which accounts for 0.4% of album sales.
The report,
International Business Times summarizes, also reveals that the UK streamed more than 3.7 billion music tracks in 2012 from services like Spotify, which equates to 140 streams for every UK household.
The best selling albums in the UK during 2012, across all formats, were:
1. Emeli Sande - Our Version of Events
2. Adele - 21
3. Ed Sheeran - +
4. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
5. One Direction - Up All Night
Emeli Sande's debut record 'Our Version of Events' sold 1.4 million copies, and it was the only album to break through the 1 million plus barrier during the year.
