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Business News Labels & Publishers Retail
Third of albums sold in UK now digital
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 4 April 2012
Digital now accounts for almost a third of all UK album sales, new data from the Official Charts Company and record label trade body the BPI has confirmed.
While digital has totally dominated the singles market for years now, the humble CD has held up well in the album domain, though the digital album – which took sometime to properly take off – is now gaining momentum. Of the albums sold in the first quarter of 2012, 33.1% were sold digitally, up from 23.6% in the same period last year.
Confirming that stat, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: “The release schedule for 2011 was front-loaded with stellar album releases from Adele, Jessie J, Bruno Mars and others. Fewer banner releases were scheduled in Q1 of this year, but it is encouraging that consumer confidence in digital albums continued to grow with the format now bagging a third of sales overall. Digital has been the dominant format on some key albums during the first quarter of 2012, and we expect that growth to continue”.
