Female artists (and Oasis) drove UK music sales in 2025

Mark SavageMusic correspondentGetty ImagesOlivia Dean’s The Artwork of Loving was certainly one of 2025’s best-selling albumsTo virtually no-one’s shock, Taylor Swift dominated the UK music charts in 2025.The star’s twelfth album, The Lifetime of a Showgirl, was the 12 months’s greatest vendor, shifting a powerful 642,000 copies since its launch in October.Ladies led the way in which all 12 months, with breakout Brits like Olivia Dean and Lola Younger powering the music trade to a record-breaking 12 months, as mixed gross sales rose by practically 5% to 201 million albums bought or streamed.There was additionally an enormous resurgence for Oasis, whose blockbuster reunion tour helped them shift multiple million albums throughout 2025. The band’s biggest hits compilation, Time Flies, was the fourth greatest album of the 12 months, whereas (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, was seventh.Getty ImagesOasis bought 1.4 million tickets for his or her comeback tourThe figures had been revealed by the British Phonographic Business (BPI), which mentioned streaming now accounts for 89% of the general music market.Followers streamed 210.3 billion songs over the course of the 12 months, with US singer Alex Warren’s Peculiar the 12 months’s most-played observe.Nevertheless, Warren’s tune was one of many solely new releases to make a significant influence – as older songs clogged up the charts.Six of the Prime 10 best-selling tracks got here out in 2024. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Membership was even older: It was initially launched in 2020.It was a banner 12 months for brand new feminine expertise within the UK, with Lola Younger touchdown the 12 months’s second-biggest single, with Messy.Olivia Dean additionally grew to become the primary lady in UK chart historical past to attain her first primary single (Man I Want) and album (The Artwork Of Loving) in the identical week.Requested why her songs had resonated with so many individuals, Dean mentioned she’d tried to make her album an antidote to troubling occasions.”I wished it to really feel similar to a hug – comforting,” she informed the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast. “I simply mentioned the whole lot must really feel heat and intimate.”Dean will cap off her unimaginable 12 months – which additionally noticed her obtain 4 simultaneous high 10 hits – by showing on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny.There have been additionally breakthroughs for confessional songwriters Skye Newman and Sienna Spiro; whereas artists like Raye, PinkPantheress and Moist Leg all consolidated their first wave of success at residence and overseas.On the singles chart, feminine artists accounted for two-thirds of 2025’s primary hits; and former Little Combine star Jade achieved the most important opening week for a debut album along with her critically-acclaimed That is Showbiz, Child!Getty ImagesLola Younger’s confrontational and confessional pop earned her a Grammy nomination for finest new artistVinyl gross sales have risen for 18 successive years and elevated quickly once more, up 13% year-on-year to 7.6 million items.Swift’s Life Of A Showgirl led the pack, and the star scored one other entry within the Prime 10 with Lover (Dwell From Paris) – a restricted version launch which was solely accessible for 72 hours on Swift’s web site. In response to the Official Charts Firm, it bought 47,000 copies in that quick stretch of time; and subsequently grew to become the primary album to achieve primary on pure gross sales (with no streams contributing to its complete) in eight years. General, vinyl gross sales have doubled within the final decade, and are on target to overhaul CDs for the primary time because the Nineteen Nineties.The 2 codecs are actually separated by simply 2 million gross sales, with 9.7 million Compact Discs bought in 2025. Ten years in the past, that determine was 47.3 million.Though it is very a lot a distinct segment market, cassettes additionally noticed a 53.8% gross sales enhance to 164,491 items in 2025.The soundtrack to Robbie Williams’ biopic Higher Man was, for causes that stay unclear, the 12 months’s finest vendor on tape.In its report, the BPI highlighted {that a} new era of British expertise had achieved worldwide success in 2025.Olivia Dean and Lola Younger each broke into the US Billboard charts, and scored nominations for finest new artist at subsequent 12 months’s Grammy Awards.Rock acts together with Yungblud, Sleep Token, Wolf Alice and Florence + The Machine additionally made waves overseas; whereas Ed Sheeran grew to become the primary abroad artist to high India’s Spotify Charts since 2021 along with his single Sapphire.These achievements had been “a powerful feat, given extra acts than ever are vying for viewers consideration”, mentioned Dr Jo Twist, CEO of the BPI.”The UK remains to be the second largest exporter of music globally, which is wonderful, however we won’t be complacent as a result of streaming has opened the floodgates to each little bit of recorded music that is ever been made,” she informed BBC Information.”Fortunately, we’ve got a superb ecosystem within the UK which helps these artists attain world success – however it’s a tricky aggressive atmosphere and that is why we want the continued assist of the British authorities.”