BPI reports UK recorded music revenue increased by 4.8% to £1.49 billion in 2024, a new nominal high.

• Streaming revenue broke through the £1 billion barrier for the first time, rising by 5.7% to £1.02 billion.

• Despite a decade of growth, British music now faces unprecedented competition and the risk that government sides with global big tech to weaken copyright at the expense of the UK’s creative industries.

The UK recorded music market achieved a decade of continuous growth in 2024 with revenue¹ rising by 4.8% to £1.49 billion, reports the BPI, the representative voice for the UK’s world-leading record companies and label businesses.

This latest increase, which combines revenue from streaming, physical music, digital downloads, synchronisation (sync), and public performance², means that over the last ten years the market has grown by more than 80% to a new nominal high.  However, once adjusted for inflation, annual revenue is still hundreds of millions of pounds lower than it was in 2006³, the first year public performance and sync were included in the calculations.

The streaming market rose to record levels in 2024 to break the £1 billion barrier for the first time, in part thanks to streaming platforms raising their subscription prices. Combined subscription, ad-supported and video-streaming revenue totaled £1.02 billion to make up 68.1% of recorded music revenue (67.5% in 2023). While streaming now accounts for an ever greater share of overall revenue, it experienced a slow-down in growth last year with its annual rise dropping to 5.7% from 8.4% the year before.

Since 2014, annual streaming revenue has increased by more than 800% in total to become the main format for recorded music. This dramatic growth has been driven by the work of UK record companies, who make significant investments each year to support the careers of artists, including through A&R, marketing and promotion – well over £2 billion in the five years between 2018-2023. Their backing has helped to introduce fans a broad range of new and emerging talent across every genre and style of music, while enabling more artists to achieve success.

Although generating more revenue than in any year since 2017, growth in the physical music market also slowed last year, despite high vinyl and CD sales of new albums by artists including Coldplay, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. Total revenue from vinyl, CD and other physical music formats increased by 1.3% in 2024 to £246.5 million, compared to a rise of 12.8% the year before. Within this, revenue from vinyl LPs rose by 2.9% to £145.7 million. Having climbed the previous year, CD revenue fell by a modest 0.5% in 2024 to stand at £96.7 million.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI Chief Executive Officer, said:
“After a decade of growth, it is all too easy to take for granted the success of UK recorded music and the vital role record businesses play in this, underpinned by copyright, by investing billions to nurture and promote diverse talent from across the UK. But in the face of intensifying global competition, it’s essential they’re empowered by a supportive policy environment to keep British artists on the world’s top step.

“Crucially, this requires the exciting potential of AI to be realised by the government safeguarding the UK’s gold-standard copyright framework and not siding with global big tech at the expense of human artistry and our world-leading creative industries..”

YolanDa Brown OBE DL – artist, music education campaigner and BPI Chair, said:
“Given the colossal effort it took initially to turn around years of decline, it is a real cause for celebration that the UK recorded music market has now been on the rise again for an entire decade. I am particularly proud of the part played in this comeback by the UK’s eclectic and vastly-talent artist community, backed by their record labels. At a time when they are facing escalating competition from overseas music markets, we need to ensure our labels are valued and are in a position to be able to fully support their artists’ careers.”

Paid subscriptions made up 86% of UK’s £1 billion streaming market
Ad-supported audio revenue enjoyed the biggest annual growth in the streaming market last year with an 8.9% increase to £77.9 million. However, paid subscriptions to services such as Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube continue to make up the vast majority of total streaming revenue. On the back of a 5.9% revenue increase, these brought in £875.5 million in 2024 to account for more than 86% of the £1.02 billion UK streaming market. Digital download revenue dropped by 6.6% to £24.3 million, marking a second year in a row of modest declines after the market previously endured a series of double-digital percentage falls.

Four tracks each generated more than 200 million audio and video streams in the UK across the year, led by Noah Kahan’s Stick Season with 233.1 million streams and also including Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things (219.3 million streams), Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter (202.8 million streams) and Lose Control by Teddy Swims (201.6 million streams). Over a dozen other tracks accumulated 100 million audio and video streams in 2024. These included Stargazing, the breakthrough hit by BRITs Rising Star 2025 winner Myles Smith, as well as releases by fellow UK artists Cassö, RAYE and D-Block Europe (Prada), and Artemas (I Like The Way You Kiss Me).

New releases helping to drive vinyl growth and CD revenue continued to stabilise in 2024
Over the last decade, the physical market has very much become a fan product and its growth has been driven by frontline labels. Revenue from vinyl has grown by more than 650% from £19.4 million in 2014 to £145.7 million last year. During this period, brand new releases have played an increasingly significant role in accelerating growth, a factor underpinned by the biggest-selling titles each year. Back in 2014, half of the year’s Top 10 sellers were catalogue titles, but in 2024 eight of the year-end Top 10 were current releases, led by Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and also including albums by Chappell Roan (The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess), Charli XCX (Brat) and Fontaines D.C. (Romance). 

While CD revenue eased back slightly, dropping by 0.5% to £96.7 million, the long-term trends suggest a relatively healthy future for the format. At the start of the decade, CD revenue was hit by a series of year-on-year double-digit percentage declines, but over the last three years has stabilised to become a £90 million-plus annual market. Like vinyl, the CD market is led by the popularity of new releases on the format, with 2024’s Top 10 sellers all current releases, including new albums by Coldplay (Moon Music) and Taylor Swift (The Tortured Poets Department), as well as breakthrough artists such as Sabrina Carpenter (Short N’ Sweet) and Teddy Swims (I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy - Part 1). This make-up of the biggest sellers highlights a market attracting new generations of music fans, as well as older consumers who grew up with the format.

Synchronisation revenue reached new annual peak and public performance & broadcast income climbed higher
Income generated by public performance and the broadcast of recorded music on TV and Radio, increased by 5.6% year-on-year to a record £161.7 million in 2024. Income from synchronisation, which is created when music is used in visual media such as film, TV, games and advertising, also reached a new annual high last year with an 11.3% rise to £43.9 million.