Female pop stars celebrate record-breaking year

From Taylor Swift to Charli XCX, women have had a record-breaking year on the British charts, according to new data from the British Phonographic Institute (BPI).

The female pop artist topped the singles chart for an unprecedented 34 weeks – the highest figure ever.

Twenty-one of those weeks belonged to Sabrina Carpenter, whose hit singles Espresso, Taste and Please, Please, Please dominated the second half of the year.

Women were also responsible for half of the year’s best-selling albums, with Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department leading the way.

A break-up album full of caustic kisses and quiet reflection, it earned more than 783,000 sales by the end of December – the most sales any artist has sold in a calendar year since Ed Sheeran sold 2.7 million copies in 2017. .

Swift’s other three albums in the year’s 20 biggest titles were: 1989 (Taylor’s version), Lover and Folklore.

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, Chappelle Rhone’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and Charli XCX’s Brat albums also made the year-end top 20 – all of whom have been nominated. Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

Brat, whose fiery and aggressive dance anthem became a cultural phenomenon, was one of 12 albums by female artists to top the Official Albums Chart in 2024 (equalling the record set in 2023).

These include BBC Sound of 2024 winners The Last Dinner Party’s debut album Prelude to Ecstasy; As well as new releases from Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé.

Overall, music consumption in the UK increased by 9.7%, with fans buying or streaming 200.5 million albums (the BPI equates 1,000 streams as one album “sale”).

Streaming reached record levels with 199.6 billion songs played during the year.

This is equivalent to everyone in the country playing 2,920 tracks or six consecutive days of music on services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Vinyl sales increased for the 17th consecutive year, with 6.7 million records purchased. And the decline in CD sales showed signs of slowing, with purchases falling only 2.9% to 10.5 million units.

However, the availability of millions of songs at the touch of a button is making it difficult for British musicians to compete.

For the first time since records began in 1970, none of the top 10 best-selling songs of the year were by a UK artist.

Instead, the chart was dominated by American singer-songwriters, including Noah Kahn, whose breakthrough hit Stick Season recorded a total of 1.99 million sales (including streams) during the year.

Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things came in second place, while Sabrina Carpenter’s summer anthem Espresso came in third.

The best-selling song by a Briton was Miles Smith’s folk-pop stomper Stargazing, which came in at number twelve.

Dr Joe Twist, chief executive of the BPI, admitted that it was “undoubtedly becoming much more difficult” for British musicians to cut through in the “hyper-competitive global music economy”.

“British artists have probably enjoyed strong years overall,” he told the BBC, “but many UK talents, from Charli XCX, Dua Lipa and Coldplay to The Last Dinner Party, Beabadoobee and rising star Miles Smith, have had great years.” Have spent. ,

“We must not forget that music is cyclical or that some of our major artists are no longer active and can be expected to return with new material in 2025.

“So I think we can be optimistic and look at it as a ‘blip’ for now, but without getting complacent.”

The BPI also noted that emerging music superpowers in Latin America and South Korea often receive government support, and urged the UK to protect and support its music industry.

Concern has increased especially over this Proposed changes to UK copyright lawIn which it claimed it would “allow international tech giants to train AI models on artists’ work without payment or permission”.

“The UK remains a world music power, but this position cannot be taken for granted,” Dr Twist said.

“We need a supportive policy environment that focuses on human artistry and enables sustained investment in the next generation of British talent.”