New BPI yearbook reveals David Bowie as UK’s most popular recording artist in 2016

The BPI’s latest yearbook, All About the Music 2017, is published today, and offers a detailed insight into the year in recorded music, covering everything from the size, value and make-up of the UK market in 2016 to the impact that streaming and the vinyl revival are having on music consumption and consumer trends. 

Amongst a vast range of facts, figures and analysis, this 38^th edition of the yearbook reveals that David Bowie was the UK’s most popular recording artist last year; The Killers’ Mr Brightside was the most-streamed track of any song released prior to 2010; and that the UK retains its place as the world’s third largest recorded music market, accounting for one in eight of the albums sold globally. See Table 2 in Notes for Editors for contents.

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI & BRIT Awards, said: “This is an exciting time for British music as more fans enjoy today’s new artists and also explore the infinite jukebox available on streaming services.  Consumption and revenues are on the up, powered by investment and innovation that is driving streaming subscriptions, whilst recordings on vinyl and CD continue to demonstrate their enduring appeal.  The UK punches above its weight as the world’s third largest market, responsible for one in eight albums sold globally, including four of 2016’s top-10, and is the second-largest digital and streaming market after the US.

“But for this success to translate into long-term growth, key issues must be overcome. Brexit risks new EU barriers for UK acts, who also face stiff competition from overseas artists on global streaming platforms. And revenue growth is still undermined by UGC platforms using music without paying fairly for it and the absence of proper IP protection in many export markets.

“Our business will only reach its full potential if government makes the creative sector a high priority in trade negotiations and offers the same kind of support to investment into music, such as through tax credits, as it has to the film and games industries.“

David Bowie is the most popular recording artist of 2016

David Bowie’s untimely passing, two days after his 69^th birthday and the release of Blackstar, prompted a huge reaction among music fans old and new, who paid fulsome tribute by reacquainting themselves with his iconic body of work or by discovering his classic songs and albums for the first time. 

Using the music industry’s standard Album Equivalent Sales (AES)¹ metric, the BPI has calculated that over   1.6 million Bowie albums or their equivalent were either purchased on CD and vinyl, downloaded or streamed by the nation’s music buyers last year.  Demand for Bowie’s music came in ahead of fellow Brit Adele, whose combined recordings generated 1.2m Album Equivalent Sales, Canadian artist Drake, and UK groups Little Mix and Coldplay.

Blackstar would have featured in the year’s best-seller lists in any event, but Bowie’s death led to a surge in sales and streams that saw it become the year’s sixth-most popular recording of 2016 across all formats and the biggest-selling title on vinyl.  The next most-consumed Bowie recordings were his compilations Best of Bowie, Nothing Has Changed – the Very Best of and Legacy ahead of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  Well over 500,000 Bowie tracks were downloaded last year and his songs were streamed over 127 million times in total. 

What the UK streamed in 2016: the most popular tracks by decade/year of release  

All About the Music 2017 also takes a close look at the impact of streaming on UK music consumption in 2016.  The breadth of music now available on services such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music means users can discover tens of millions of recordings more easily than ever. Whilst recent repertoire is most popular, catalogue comprises a growing share of listening as the number of recordings increase with each year.

The BPI analysed the 10,000 most-streamed tracks of 2016 as collated by the Official Charts Company.  Releases from 2016 (most notably Drake’s One Dance) accounted for nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of streams played in 2016, as did those from 2015 (23 per cent).  Consequently music that is older than two years accounted for just over half of all audio streams.

The 100 most-streamed tracks of 2016 were each played over 25 million times. Most popular by some margin was Drake’s One Dance (142 million) and the highest-streamed UK artist was Calvin Harris in fifth spot, whose smash This is What you Came For, featuring Rihanna, was streamed 83 million times. For the first time in five years US artists outperformed home-grown acts in the UK Singles market.

BPI’s Geoff Taylor further commented:

“These figures illustrate the intense global competition, in particular from the US, that UK artists now face in the streaming era. While UK acts continue to perform well overseas, the rising share of US artists in the singles market demonstrates that future success cannot be taken for granted. British labels will need to further intensify their world-leading A&R efforts and Government should take swift action to encourage such additional investment, by introducing tax credits for music recorded in the UK.”

More than 100 catalogue tracks – songs that are more than two years old – were streamed at least 10 million times in 2016 to underline the growing significance of the ‘long tail’ in streaming. These included The Killers’ 2003 hit Mr Brightside, which last year was the most streamed of any song released prior to 2010, played over 26 million times. Oasis’ 1995 classic Wonderwall was another hugely popular track – streamed 16 million times last year.

There is also a trend of festive hits re-entering the Official Charts at Christmas. In 2016 perennial favourites All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey (17 million streams), Last Christmas by Wham! (13 million) and The Pogues ft. Kirsty Maccoll’s Fairytale of New York (12 million) were amongst the most streamed songs of their respective decades. In fact in the last week of 2016, four of the most-streamed songs were catalogue Christmas classics – only the No.1 itself, Clean Bandit’s Rockabye, was a new release.

Film soundtracks can also reinvigorate demand for older recordings, which explains why Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s 1967 smash Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, which featured on Guardians of the Galaxy, was the most streamed track of the 1960s in 2016 (10 million). Similarly, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son, which appeared in Suicide Squad, was, with 4.4 million plays, the fifth-most-streamed track from 1969. Perhaps the song that best underlines this trend is Smash Mouth by All Star. Entering the Official Charts at just No.24 when it first came out in 1999, its popularity has grown in the meantime, thanks in part to its inclusion on the original soundtrack to Shrek. In 2016 it was one of the most-streamed tracks from the Nineties, played over 11 million times, and was one of the 300 most-streamed tracks of the year.

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