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Virgin Music Group has acquired Saban Music Latin, it was announced on Thursday (Jan. 4). The deal comes five years after entertainment mogul Haim Saban invested $500 million to launch Saban Music Group, and two years after the music company launched its Latino division.
Under the terms of the transaction, Virgin Music — a division of Universal Music Group — will acquire Saban Music Latin’s catalog, which includes such artists as Jon Z, Reykon and German Montero. It will also release future albums by Saban Music Latin artists.
Saban Music Latin’s roster includes emerging L.A.-based pop artist Loyal Lobos, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Chesca — who has scored two No. 1 songs on Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart (“Súbelo” and “Te Quiero Baby”) — and rapper-producer YoGambii.
Saban Music Group launched in 2019 as a music company with a Latin focus and with veteran music executive Gustavo Lopez as CEO. Lopez was the longtime GM and executive vp Universal Music Latin, where he launched Latin urban label Machete Music, home to artists like Wisin & Yandel and Don Omar, and also ran Universal Music Latin Entertainment’s regional Mexican labels, Fonovisa and Disa. After leaving UMLE in 2017, he launched indie music company Talento Uno, which was acquired by Saban.
In 2020, Saban Music Group entered into an exclusive global administration agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group — and in February 2022, it announced it was launching a Latin division with Alejandro Reglero in the role of executive vp/GM, reporting to Lopez.
The acquisition follows Virgin Music Group’s recent partnerships with other Latin labels, including DEL Records, the West Coast-based independent label home to Latin music’s biggest song of 2023, “Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma. In November, Virgin Music also announced a worldwide agreement with Pepe Aguilar‘s two regional Mexican labels, Machin and Equinoccio Records.
The Virgin Music Group roster already includes such Latin stars as Espinoza Paz, Sech, Grupo Firme, Tainy and Angela Aguilar.
On a recent balmy December afternoon in Los Angeles, The Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) sponsored a panel discussion on wellness for students at King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science. BMAC co-founder and chair Willie “Prophet” Stiggers was joined on the panel, titled Healing Through Music, with other music industry professionals who shared their wellness journeys.
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The students at King/Drew are held to high standards and face a rigorous curriculum. They’re also teenagers who are navigating all that comes with this stage of growing up, including their fast-approaching post-high school lives. While this can be exciting, it can also bring up uncertainty and anxiety.
Moderated by entertainment attorney, activist and BMAC founding member Dina LaPolt of LaPolt Law, P.C., the panelists included LaPolt’s client artist and songwriter Iann Dior, wellness and mental health expert Rebecca Kordecki, and songwriter/producer Maejor. The panelists discussed their mental health struggles and how they learned to cope. LaPolt has long been a supporter of King/Drew High School and has been a mentor to several students.
“I want to talk to you about something that’s very important in today’s world, especially after the pandemic, which is wellness,” LaPolt shared in her opening remarks to students just before holiday break. “Emotional, physical, and mental wellness. Anxiety, all kinds of depressing disorders can happen… it’s a lot.”
Songwriter, producer and podcast host Maejor travels to underserved communities and teaches about breath work, wellness and the importance of “setting intention.” Maejor’s journey to wellness began when he was diagnosed with cancer. It was during this time that he was bombarded with info on healing, some of which he had a hard time taking seriously. His interest was piqued by what he was learning about the effects of sound on well-being, and he highlighted the chanting of monks as an example. He was inspired to use what he was learning from science, the spiritual community and the music industry.
For several minutes, Maejor filled the auditorium with one of his compositions that he described as utilizing the A444 frequency — the relaxation frequency.
Wellness and mental health expert Rebecca Kordecki has worked as a motivational speaker for over 20 years. It was during this journey to wellness, that she discovered the importance of breath work. “We breathe involuntarily,” Kordecki told students. “The beautiful thing about breath is that we can voluntarily manipulate the breath to do things for us. For instance, we can manipulate the breath to give us energy, we can manipulate it to calm us down, we can manipulate to put us to sleep at night. So, learning how to use the breath is a really powerful tool.”
She added, “Eight years ago, I discovered breath work and it changed the game for me. I was doing fitness training, working with celebrities and doing all these amazing things but from the outside in. Helping people get six pack abs, feel stronger, and make better movies and all those things, but they were still unhappy inside, I would notice. I thought, how can I get people to connect with their inside while working with them on the outside? That’s when I started to incorporate breath work into the work I do with clients so that they can connect to themselves.”
Kordecki lead everyone in a few breathing exercises, including “box breathing”, which she demonstrated as a four-count inhale, a four-count hold, and then a four count exhale. The technique is often used to help young children learn to regulate their emotions. It is also a great tool for handling anxiety.
Iann Dior, who was impressed the students got out of class to attend the event, was the most in his element, and related easily with the students. At only 24, Dior has already achieved multi-platinum status with “Mood,” his 2020 Hot 100 No. 1 with 24KGoldn.
“One way that I find myself, calming myself down before I go out on stage and everything, is just being by myself,” Ian shared. “I go into the room, and I chill and kind of talk to myself. I remind myself, ‘You’ve been through a lot. You’ve seen a lot of things that normal kids don’t have to see’ … and I remind myself that I’m thankful for all those bad times.”
“Anytime something bad happens, or something doesn’t go my way, I’m thankful for it,” he continued. “I talk to myself, and ask myself, why is this happening, because I need to overcome this and next time something happens again, I move past it.”
He invited the audience to share their stories of what is troubling them. A student near the front shared how it’s been a stressful week due to final exams, and how her academic performance affects her self-esteem. Another shared, through nervous giggles and tears, that she’d been fighting with her friends and learned that her boyfriend had been cheating on her.
Prophet acknowledged from the stage that everyone has experienced that pain and that everyone could relate.
Ian asked the audience to raise their hand if they had a goal or a dream for their life. He shared that at one point he was homeless while living in Puerto Rico. He shared that focusing on what would happen if he didn’t do something to achieve his dreams and advised setting realistic goals and working towards them.
LaPolt then gave the audience a parting task: “When you get home tonight, I want you to look into the mirror and give yourself a high-five and say you got this. That’s want we got to do. We’ve got to motivate each other, but the first thing you have to do is motivate yourself.”
Bob Fead, who held key positions with such powerhouse labels as Liberty Records and A&M Records from the 1960s into the 2000s, died Tuesday (Jan. 2) at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 89.
Fead was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska — the youngest of four children and the son of a semi-pro baseball player who died at an early age. Fead found work in Omaha selling men’s clothing but had a dream to move west. He soon found himself in Los Angeles working for a shirt company, but a chance meeting at a party with a record executive landed him a promotions job, on the spot, at Liberty Records.
Fead thrived at Liberty and helped drive radio airplay for such artists as Bobby Vee, Gene Pitney, Willie Nelson, Jan and Dean, Del Shannon and Vikki Carr. He worked alongside famed producer (and longtime friend) Snuff Garrett.
After five years at Liberty, Fead was recruited by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss to join them at their fledgling A&M Records, where he eventually rose to senior vp of sales and marketing. While there, Fead worked with such legendary acts as Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Quincy Jones, the Carpenters, Cat Stevens and Peter Frampton. As part of a deal that moved manufacturing and distribution to RCA, Fead shifted to RCA to oversee all aspects of sales and distribution for A&M and associated labels.
Fead later launched Alfa Records, a U.S.-based division of Japan’s Alfa Music, and found immediate success with 1960s singing star Lulu, whose “I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)” made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1981. Alfa also put Billy Vera and the Beaters on the map with a pair of Hot 100 hits that same year: “I Can Take Care of Myself” and “At This Moment.” The latter song belatedly reached No. 1 in January 1987 (on Rhino Records) after it was featured on the hit TV series Family Ties.
Fead also served as president of both Monument Records and Michael Nesmith’s Pacific Arts Video. In February 1982, A Pacific Arts Video release, Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts, won a Grammy for video of the year — making it the first Grammy ever awarded for a video.
Fead was next tapped to be president of Famous Music, a division of Paramount Pictures, where he managed music rights related to such classic films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Godfather and Footloose.
Fead next landed at Warner/Chappell Music, where he managed publishing rights for his old friend, Quincy Jones, and developed a longtime publishing relationship with Burt Bacharach, serving as president of Bacharach’s publishing company.
Bacharach died last February. A&M co-founder Moss died last August, as did Harold Childs, the label’s senior vice president of promotion and sales.
Fead gave his personal time to various philanthropic ventures, including serving as president of the music chapter of City of Hope. He also served as a board member and later became president of Society of Singers, a philanthropic organization that helped singers experiencing financial problems. He would often invite friends to entertain at a small venue in L.A. and donate all the money from ticket sales to the organization. Some of the artists who performed, at Fead’s request, included Mac Davis, Jeff Barry, Jerry Fuller and the long-married Jackie DeShannon and Randy Edelman.
Fead additionally served on the board of ASCAP and The Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Fead was introduced to his future wife, Beverlye, 40 years ago by music agent John Doumanian. The Feads were longtime residents of Montecito, Calif. In 2018, Beverlye wrote a warm recap of her husband’s life and career for The Montecito Journal. In the piece, she told the story of his fortuitous hiring at Liberty Records.
“After college, he came to California to work for a shirt company,” she wrote. “The first night he arrived in Los Angeles, he went to a party, and it changed the course of his life forever. He met a man who said Bob would make a good promotion man in the music business. He was willing to pay $85 a week, which was a lot of money in those days; Bob accepted the offer on the spot. He had no idea what to do, or what a promotion man was. His new employer gave him a record, told him to take it to radio stations to promote. He did. That was how he came to Liberty Records and to a business he has loved to this day.”
Until his retirement at age 81, Fead commuted between his home in Montecito and L.A. for work. More recently, the Feads returned to L.A. to be closer to family.
Songwriter and current ASCAP president Paul Williams issued a statement on the passing of his longtime friend (and fellow Omaha native): “Bob was an important piece of so many success stories, including mine…his passion was wrapped in a camouflage that made people comfortable and accepting of his opinion of a new artist. Both [his] opinion and advocacy changed lives! To those who were blessed to know him, may your sweetest of memories grow stronger with every mention of his name. God bless you, Bob Fead.”
Fead is survived by his wife, Beverlye; children Michael (and his wife, Tera) and Laurella Fead (from a marriage to Marilyn Fead); brother Bill Fead; grandchildren Max Clark and Jackson Fead; and relatives from his wife’s side of the family, including Jim and Leslie Hyman, Terry Hamermesh, Tessa Hamermesh, Alex Hyman and Gideon Hyman.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests tribute donations be made to the Motion Picture Television Fund (Compassionate Care Fund) at https://mptf.com/ways-to-give/.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has acquired the catalog of Oriental Star Agencies (OSA). Founded in 1966 in London by Pakistani immigrants Muhammad Ayyub and his brothers, OSA is known as one of the United Kingdom’s top labels for South Asian talent.
The OSA catalog consists primarily of recorded music, but the new UMG deal encompasses all of its master recording holdings and its publishing. This includes 18,000 songs and video recordings, including from Malkit Singh, a well-known Bhangra artist; Bally Sagoo; and Attaullah Khan. It also includes works from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a prolific, Grammy-nominated artist and film composer who is known for popularizing a form of Sufi devotional music, called “qawwali,” outside of his native Pakistan.
The sounds of OSA artists were able to permeate the United Kingdom’s musical consciousness even further at the turn of the 21st century, when several older OSA tracks were placed on the soundtrack of the hit soccer movie, Bend It Like Beckham, released in 2002. The label continued to operate independently until 2017 when it sold to Hi-Tech Music, another British record label.
According to IFPI’s Global Music Report, the Asian recorded music market grew 15.4% in 2023, marking the third consecutive year the continent has experienced double-digit revenue growth. Now, Asia accounts for just under 23% of the global market and is expected to continue to expand. Japan, South Korea and China account for the majority of Asia’s global music exports, but South Asian countries overall continue to grow year after year.
In recent years, as the music catalog market grew red hot and competition among buyers became greater than ever, some investors showedincreased interest in acquiring music from typically underrepresented genres and nationalities in the catalog market. Reservoir, for example, invested in new relationships and catalogs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt; Wahoo Music Fund One focused solely on Latin music purchases; Singapore-based blackx tried to corner the Asian music market; and Armada Music’s BEAT started buying up dance catalogs.
According to a press release about the OSA deal, the catalog acquisition “complements UMG’s current service offering and will help drive momentum for the South Asian music market, enabling local artists to reach the largest possible audience in the global community.”
“This acquisition of a hugely successful and iconic British-Asian label specializing in South Asian music will further increase Universal Music Group’s exposure to, and participation in, a fast growing and rapidly changing market,” said Adam Granite, executive vp of market development at UMG, in a statement. “I am particularly pleased that Universal Music Group will become the next custodian of Oriental Star Agencies, a label that has played an unparalleled role in bridging the musical identities of the UK and South Asia, taking the unique sounds of its artists to a broad audience. We believe this catalog has huge potential, and look forward to taking it to the next generation of music fans globally.”
“This is a momentous day for OSA and all our artists,” added Mohammed Twassen of OSA. “Becoming part of the UMG family will turbo-charge our South Asian music, helping it to get in front of more music fans across the world. The past decade has seen a true global explosion of music from the region, and now, under UMG’s stewardship, the next decade promises to be even more exciting.”
Christina Aguilera has signed with UTA for worldwide representation, the company tells Billboard. The pop icon joins a roster that includes some of music’s biggest players and hitmakers, including Lil Wayne, Post Malone, Karol G, Jonas Brothers and Guns N’ Roses. The news comes on the heels of a major night for Aguilera: On Saturday […]
More than six months after Jimmie Allen was first sued for sexual assault, the country star is splitting with his lawyers — and one of his accusers claims he’s delaying the case by doing so.
In a court filing last month obtained by Billboard, Allen’s lawyers, Jonathan Cole and Katelyn R. Dwyer from the prominent Tennessee law firm Baker Donelson, asked to withdraw from the case, saying the singer had been “unable to comply” with the terms of his representation agreement.
The filings (first reported by The Tennessean) contained no other details about the reason for Allen’s split with his lawyers. But they quickly prompted a response from his accuser’s attorney, who argued last week in her own filing that Allen had already cycled through three different law firms over the past year — and that he was stalling the case in the process.
“Allen has a track record of moving through attorneys,” wrote Elizabeth A. Fegan, counsel for Allen’s Jane Doe accusers. “These tactics are part of Allen’s continuing pattern of conduct to forestall plaintiff’s right to gather discovery to pursue her claims.”
After nearly eight months of litigation, Fegan argued that Allen had thus far “failed to produce the most basic information” during “discovery” — referring to the legal process in which key evidence is exchanged during a lawsuit. She claimed that Allen’s current attorneys at Baker Donelson are in possession of some materials, but that they “do not intend to produce it” before they withdraw from the case.
A rep for Allen did not immediately return a request for comment on the new dispute.
Allen, a once-rising country music star, was sued twice last year for sexual assault — first by a member of his management team who claims he harassed and assaulted her, then again by a woman who says he assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room and secretly recorded it. Both women sued as anonymous Jane Does.
The current filings only apply to the first case filed by the Jane Doe who served on Allen’s management team. Fegan did not oppose Cole and Dwyer’s similar motion to withdraw from the second case over the alleged Las Vegas incident, and that request was granted last week.
Allen has strongly denied all the accusations, saying he would “mount a vigorous defense.” He later counter-sued both women, accusing the management employee of defaming him and claiming that the other woman had stolen the phone he allegedly used to record her.
According to the new filings by Fegan (who represents both Doe accusers), when she first contacted Allen regarding her clients’ accusations, he was represented by Frost Brown Todd LLP, another well-known regional law firm. She said she later corresponded with another lawyer (Andrew Brettler of the firm Berk Brettler LLP) before Cole and Dwyer, the attorneys from Baker Donelson, appeared as Allen’s formal counsel when the lawsuit was filed in court.
Since then, she claimed Allen has “not responded to or provided any information pursuant to any of plaintiff’s discovery requests.” Given that there are “impending deadlines” — including a February cut-off for discovery — Fegan argued that allowing Cole and Dwyer to withdraw from the case would result in “severe prejudice.” Instead, she asked for a court order forcing them to turn over key information about the current status of the discovery process before they leave the case.
“Without this information, Plaintiff is unable to diligently prosecute her claims, meet the Court’s current deadlines, or adequately prepare for depositions,” Fegan wrote.
Sphere Entertainment Co. has promoted Ed Lunger to senior vp/GM of Sphere, the groundbreaking venue that opened in Las Vegas last September.
After previously serving as Sphere’s vp/assistant BM of back of house operations, Lunger will now oversee building operations, event production, technical operations, guest services, food and beverage, merchandise operations and ticket operations. He will also work across the Sphere organization to develop, execute and support strategic plans aligned with the venue’s overall business objectives.
“Being part of the Sphere team opening this next-generation venue has been an honor, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to now lead our venue operations team in this new role,” Lunger said in a statement. “Sphere is setting a new standard for the in-venue guest experience, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across the organization as we continue to deliver unforgettable moments for our guests right here in Las Vegas.”
“I am pleased that Ed has taken on a new leadership role with Sphere,” added Rich Claffey, Sphere’s executive vp/COO. “Since its opening, Sphere has been delivering a first-of-its-kind experience to guests. With his deep expertise in venue management and operations, including at other venues in the MSG Family of Companies, Ed will ensure that Sphere is well positioned to continue building on our world-class experience.”
Lunger is based in Las Vegas and has been on Sphere’s venue leadership team since 2020. He previously spent seven years on the venue operation team at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and also worked in various venue operations and engineering roles at Madison Square Garden.
Sphere opened to much fanfare in September with a residency from U2. In December, Billboard Boxscore reported that the band’s 17-show run at Sphere generated nearly $110 million in ticket sales; a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Dec. 5 notes that those shows generated a total of $30.7 million in revenue for Sphere Entertainment through Nov. 30. Meanwhile, Sphere Entertainment’s own content offering, Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth, generated approximately $44.5 million in total revenue from ticket sales from 111 showings.
U2‘s residency has been extended multiple times, with the final shows slated for May. Phish will play its own four-show Sphere residency this April.
T.I. and his wife Tiny Harris are facing a new civil lawsuit that claims they drugged and sexually assaulted a woman they met in a Los Angeles nightclub in 2005.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles court, lawyers for a Jane Doe accuser say T.I. (Clifford Harris) and Tiny (Tameka Harris) gave her a spiked drink after she was introduced to them in the VIP section of a club, then brought her back to their hotel room where they “forced her to get naked” and assaulted her.
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“Plaintiff did not consent to any of the sexual assault or misconduct and did not have the capacity to consent after being drugged by defendants,” lawyers for the alleged victim write in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Billboard.
Attorneys for accuser, who they say was in her early twenties and serving in the U.S. Air Force at the time, claim she was introduced to the couple by an associate named “Caviar,” who she says she met the previous night at the house of the rapper Coolio. Midway through the alleged incident, after she allegedly drank a beverage offered her by Tiny, she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and later passed out.
The allegations share similarities to previously-reported accusations. In 2021, the New York Times reported a police investigation over an alleged 2005 incident in which “a military veteran” claimed the famous couple had “raped her in a hotel room” after she had become “incapacitated” while drinking with them in the “VIP section” at a Los Angeles club.
At the time, the couple strongly denied any wrongdoing, saying the accusations were part of “a sordid shakedown campaign.” Prosecutors later declined to bring charges over the allegations, citing the expiration of a 10-year statute of limitations.
The new case is filed under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which created a four-year window through 2026 for alleged victims to bring cases that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. The law is similar to New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which recently led to a wave of sexual abuse cases in that state before the statute expired in November.
Representatives for the Harrises and their label, Grand Hustle Records, did not immediately return requests for comment on the lawsuit’s allegations. The attorney who represented the couple during the earlier police investigation also did return a request for comment.
The new lawsuit against the Harrises contains explicit details of the alleged sexual assault.
After meeting T.I. and Tiny at the nightclub, the accuser’s lawyers claim Tiny “handed plaintiff a drink” and “watched her take a drink.” A short time later, the trio allegedly returned to a nearby hotel, where Tiny “took off all of plaintiff’s clothing,” got undressed herself, and they were joined by a nude T.I.
“Plaintiff was then directed to get in the shower and T.I. and Tiny entered the shower with her,” her lawyers write. “Plaintiff was extremely shocked and uncomfortable.” After the shower, the accuser claims she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and was “visibly drugged” as T.I. told her to get into bed.
“Plaintiff could tell she was experiencing something serious and debilitating that was not a symptom of a typical drink or a few drinks,” her lawyers say.
After T.I. allegedly forced her to watch pornographic movies, he then “demanded she begin rubbing oil on his back and naked body, while Tiny “proceeded to get on plaintiff’s back, while she was still naked, and grind back and forth” on top of her. Then, “while Tiny was straddled on plaintiff’s back and pinning her down,” the accuser claims that T.I. “proceeded to slide his toes into plaintiff’s vagina.”
“Plaintiff grew increasingly sicker and felt extremely ill by the assault and battery she was experiencing,” the Doe’s attorneys write. Eventually, she “forced herself up and went into the bathroom where she proceeded to vomit.” She later emerged from the bathroom “naked, dazed, sickened, and weak” and passed out on a couch.
When she was awoken by a security guard the next morning, the accuser claims she “immediately noticed her vagina was in serious pain.” As she was crying, she says the security guard then escorted her out of the room.
The lawsuit is the latest in a recent flood of lawsuits alleging sexual assault and sexual harassment by men in the music industry. Over the past year, such cases have been filed against hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Aerosmith star Steven Tyler, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine and former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, among many others.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and need support and/or resources, reach out to RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) for free, confidential help 24/7.
Universal Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment have renewed their multi-year licensing agreement, the companies announced on Wednesday (Jan. 3). Under the renewed agreement between TME and UMG — first signed in May 2017 — Tencent will continue to distribute UMG content on its associated streaming platforms QQ Music, Kogou Music and Kuwo Music, as […]
Hit singles by Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and SZA helped lift the U.K. streaming market to a record high last year with more than 179 billion music tracks streamed across the 12 months, up 12.8% on 2022’s total, and nearly double the volume of audio streams registered five years ago, according to year-end figures from labels trade body BPI.
Female artists fueled the growth in streaming consumption, spending an unprecedented 31 weeks at No. 1 on the United Kingdom’s official singles chart – the highest total since the charts launched in 1952.
Leading the pack is Cyrus’s “Flowers,” which spent 10 weeks atop the U.K. charts and was the year’s biggest song with 198 million streams.
In total, seven of the ten most popular songs in the U.K. in 2023 were by female acts with SZA, Swift, Cameroonian American singer Libianca and U.K. artists PinkPantheress, RAYE and Ellie Goulding (in collaboration with Calvin Harris) joining Cyrus in the annual best-sellers list. BPI reports it is the highest number of female artists in the year-end top 10 in more than 70 years.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of tracks by British rappers Dave and Central Cee, Nigerian singer Rema and Harry Styles.
Across the year, almost half (48.5%) of the songs that entered the top 10 of the U.K.’s weekly official singles chart were by female acts, either solo or in collaboration with other artists.
Jo Twist
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Reflecting on a record-breaking year for female artists, BPI chief executive Jo Twist said the achievements of stars like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and RAYE should be celebrated, but cautioned against complacency in the industry “to ensure that this becomes the norm.”
BPI reports that streaming now makes up more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K., compared to 64% five years ago, with physical formats accounting for 9.4% of today’s market.
The trade body says that more than 2,500 tracks generated over 10 million audio and video streams in 2023, compared to around 1,100 songs reaching the same total in 2018.
Overall, music consumption rose for a ninth consecutive year with the equivalent of 182.8 million albums streamed or purchased in 2023 across digital and physical formats, up 10% on the previous 12 months.
Vinyl album sales rose for the 16th consecutive year, growing at their fastest rate this decade (up almost 12%) to 6.1 million units and marking the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, when Phil Collins, Elton John and Madonna were among the year’s best-selling 12-inch releases.
In 2023, that accolade was won by Swift, who holds three places in the year’s top-selling vinyl album charts, including the No. 1 spot with 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Other entries in the top 10 included records by The Rolling Stones, Lana Del Rey, Fleetwood Mac, Blur, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Rodrigo.
CD sales dropped 6.9% year-on-year to 10.8 million units, while cassette sales stayed broadly level with recent years at 136,000 units. Digital album sales dropped 4.6% to 3.5 million units with best-sellers including Trustfall by Pink and But Here We Are by Foo Fighters.
Despite the dominance of streaming, BPI reports that physical format sales made up more than half of all chart-eligible sales for the vast majority (86%) of albums that debuted at the top of the U.K. charts last year.
Across digital and physical formats combined, The Weeknd’s The Highlights was the year’s most popular album in the U.K., followed by Swift’s Midnights and her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) set. Elton John’s Diamonds, which was first released in 2017, ranked at No. 4 thanks to the singer’s farewell tour and high-profile Glastonbury headline performance in the summer.
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House secured fifth place in the overall year-end albums tally, while Barbie: The Album was the year’s top compilation.
BPI’s preliminary year-end report, published Wednesday (Jan. 3), doesn’t include financial sales data. Instead, it uses Official Charts Company data to measure U.K. music consumption in terms of volume.
The London-based organization will publish its full year-end report, including recorded music revenues, later this year. Another British trade body, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), is due to report on annual music retail spending later this month.
The U.K. is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of just under $1.7 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2023 Global Music Report.
U.K. OFFICIAL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2023
1. The Weeknd – The Highlights
2. Taylor Swift – Midnights
3. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
4. Elton John – Diamonds
5. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
6. Fleetwood Mac – 50 Years – Don’t Stop
7. Eminem – Curtain Call – The Hits
8. SZA – SOS
9. Arctic Monkeys – AM
10. ABBA – Gold – Greatest Hits
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U.K. TOP TEN OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART 2023
1. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
2. Dave & Central Cee – Sprinter
3. RAYE ft 070 Shake – Escapism
4. Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
5. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – Miracle
6. Rema – Calm Down
7. SZA – Kill Bill
8. PinkPantheress – Boy’s A Liar
9. Harry Styles – As It Was
10. Libianca – People