Adele and Ed Sheeran may have topped the UK sales charts in 2021, but it was decades-old songs by “heritage acts” such as Queen and Fleetwood Mac that helped millions of Britons through the pandemic, music industry figures suggest.
British artists accounted for eight of the top 10 albums listened to in the UK last year, and many will not be surprised to learn that the No 1 and No 2 spots were taken by Adele and Ed Sheeran respectively with their blockbuster releases 30 and =. Both achieved more than 500m streams in 2021 in the UK alone, plus billions more globally, according to data released by the record labels’ association the BPI on Tuesday.
Adele’s album, her fourth, was released in November, and notched up first-week chart sales of 262,000. Sheeran also had the bestselling single of 2021 with Bad Habits.
However, the list revealed that during troubled times many people reach for the familiarity and comfort provided by classic acts, many of which are being discovered by new generations of music fans thanks to streaming. At No 5 in the table of 2021’s bestselling and most streamed albums was a record originally released 40 years ago: Greatest Hits by Queen, featuring tracks including Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock You.
No 8 was Diamonds, a greatest hits album from Elton John. Originally issued in 2017 , it feature classic songs from 1970 to 2016. No 9 was 50 Years – Don’t Stop, a career-spanning collection from Fleetwood Mac that was released in 2018. In third place was another heritage act, albeit one releasing an album of new music. Abba staged pop’s biggest comeback with their new collection Voyage, which will be accompanied by a “digital avatar” concert residency in a London arena from May.
Newcomers did manage a look-in, though, with the US singer Olivia Rodrigo and the UK rapper Dave featuring in the albums top 10. The BPI said streaming in particular was enabling a vast array of new British artists, from guitar bands such as the Lathums to soul singers including Joy Crookes, to break through.
One-hundred and eighty artists achieved more than 100m streams in the UK over the past 12 months, while more than 1,900 acts had their songs streamed at least 10m times in Britain.
While streaming continues to dominate the way we listen to music, the vinyl renaissance continued apace in 2021, with sales at their highest level in three decades. Another blast from the past – audio cassettes – enjoyed a resurgence, sales increased by a fifth to hit an 18-year high, providing fresh evidence of the collectible appeal of recorded music on physical formats.
Overall, recorded music consumption in the UK rose by 2.5% in 2021, with 159m albums or their equivalent either streamed or bought across all formats.
Streaming accounted for 83% of overall music consumption in the UK last year, when people listened to more than 147bn audio streams, up 5.7% on the 139bn in 2020, according to the BPI.
However, the appetite among some music fans for vinyl shows no sign of waning. The format defied supply chain and production challenges in 2021 to rack up a total of 5.3m copies sold. That is 11% up on the previous and amounts to a fourteenth year of consecutive growth. One of the biggest hits was Abba’s Voyage, which was described as the “fastest-selling vinyl of the century”.
Compact discs have been in decline since 2004, though in 2021 the rate of decrease slowed to 11%, said the BPI.
Geoff Taylor, the BPI’s chief executive, said: “As our lives continue to be disrupted, the past 12 months have reminded us again of the important role that recorded music plays in our lives. At the same time, the rise of streaming has empowered more artists than ever – from all backgrounds and eras – to build new fanbases around the world and to forge successful careers in music.”
