BPI figures: pop overtook rock in the UK in 2014

Pop overturned rock as biggest seller in the UK last year, according to labels trade body BPI, based on figures sourced from the Official Charts Company.

Pop made up 34.5% of album sales, helped by Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Paolo Nutini and Paloma Faith (pictured). The last time pop was this big, the BPI pointed out, was in 1999 (36.2%) when boy bands, The Corrs and Robbie Williams ruled.

Last year pop made up almost half (48.6%) of compilation albums, claiming six of the top 10 biggest-sellers of 2014. It also constituted a third (36%) of singles sales, marking its sixth consecutive year as top genre in the singles charts.

Rock boasted a third (33.2%) of all album sales, aided by new albums from Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Royal Blood, and Kasabian and with George Ezra as rock’s biggest seller in albums and singles. In fact the single Budapest is cited to have helped rock seize its biggest share in the singles market in four years (24.3%). Whether Ezra can be regarded as “rock” is a moot point.

In terms of album sales, rock is four times as popular as EDM (7.7%).

Thanks to Calvin Harris, Clean Bandit and Avicii, EDM singles were 16.2%, the biggest since 2008. It was second (23%) to pop in the compilations market. Dance albums lost their share  in the market, down to 7.7% from 8.3% in 2013.

Easy listening sales made up 6.5%, R&B 5.6%, classical 3.2%, country 2.3%, jazz 1.2%, folk 1.1% and New Age at 0.1%

“Be it pop hits, rock classics, dance anthems, classical compositions or country collaborations, British artists and labels continue to work together to make music loved by fans across the nation,” said BPI’s Lynne McDowell in a statement. "The UK has a rich and diverse cultural heritage and we can be proud of the cross-genre music royalty that we have produced down through the decades to this very day.”