Music Chronicle

Taylor Swift Taylor Swift had her most successful year so far. • Her total album sales were up by about 17% on 2023, her previous best. • She had the best selling album of the year for the first time. • She placed ten albums in the year end Top 100 – one more than in 2023. • Her total sales were the highest by an artist since Ed Sheeran sold over 3,250k in 2017. • Her total sales were the highest by a female artist since Adele sold 2,700k in 2015. • Her total sales were the highest by an American artist since Michael Jackson sold over 2,800k in 2009, the year he died. • Her career total in the UK is now around 10,700k. In the past twelve months she has overtaken Rihanna, Barbra Streisand, Pink, Whitney Houston and Kylie Minogue to become the fourth best selling female albums artist of all time in the UK, behind Madonna, Adele and Celine Dion. She will certainly move above Celine Dion during 2025. • During 2025 she will probably achieve her fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh triple platinum LPs. Among female artists, only Madonna has more than five. These remarkable headlines were driven by the release of The Tortured Poets Department and the continuation of the Eras Tour. Strip out the new album, and her LP sales were actually down by 20% on 2023. Thus it is unlikely she will score as strongly in 2025, although there will, presumably, be Taylor’s Versions of her eponymous debut and Reputation issued at some point.

Top Artists The Music Chronicle estimates that the Top 10 artists of 2024 were:- The following eight artists almost certainly sold over 450,000 albums in the UK in 2024, and might have sold over 500,000, and therefore placed inside the Top 10:- Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles, Coldplay, Drake, Linkin Park, Queen, Elvis Presley & Kanye West.

Unusual Entry The most curious entry in this year’s Top 100 is perhaps Nursery Rhymes By CoComelon at #39. This made its weekly chart debut in March 2024, and has always placed between #28 and #52 since then. The CD contains 20 tracks, and the MP3 download and streaming versions have 40 tracks lasting 100 minutes. Its cumulative sales since release now exceed 225,000 copies, and it is on track to go platinum later this year. CoComelon is an American company specialising in animated videos, and is a huge presence on YouTube. It is very rare for children’s albums to perform so well. In the distant past many were disqualified from the album chart because they were budget priced. However, The Muppets’ debut was the 20th best selling artists album of 1977, The Smurfs registered three CDs in the year end Top 100 in 1996/97, and Bob The Builder had the 94th best selling artist album in 2001. But CoComelon’s offering is the biggest ever hit aimed at under-threes.

Studio Album Perennials Fifteen studio albums have appeared in the Top 100 in at least six of the last eight years, and their annual placing is tracked on the chart below. Seven of these have appeared every year since 2017 – Rumours, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory ?, AM, In The Lonely Hour, 25, Divide and Dua Lipa. Michael Buble’s Christmas had registered for thirteen consecutive years since release, but fell short in 2024. AM is now the studio album with the longest unbroken run in the year end Top 100, appearing for every one of the 12 years since its release. Its lowest position so far is #79 in 2017. Most of these fifteen albums are on a slow downward trajectory. However:- Taylor Swift’s Lover enjoyed its two best year end placings in 2023 and 2024. Oasis benefitted from a resurgence in interest last year, which will almost certainly be sustained this year as a result of the live shows. Helped by a 30th anniversary reissue, Definitely Maybe outsold ...Morning Glory for the first time since 2004. Dua Lipa’s debut album recorded its highest annual total since 2020, and moved above a million sales at the start of 2024.

Release Date of Studio Albums in the Top 100 The green bars on the chart below record the year of release of the 65 studio albums in the year end Top 100. Rumours is the oldest, first appearing in 1977. The next two oldest are Oasis’ first two LPs. The red bars indicate the year of release of studio albums which featured in 2023’s Top 100, but dropped out in 2024. The oldest to slip was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, followed by Arctic Monkey’s Favourite Worst Nightmare. There were 18 2023 releases in that year’s Top 100, half of which dropped off the list in 2024. The best placed in 2023 to plunge out in 2024 was Ed Sheeran’s – [subtract], which was the 23rd best seller. The Rolling Stones, Pink and Take That also fell from the 2023 Top 40 to outside the 2024 Top 100.

Age of Top 100 Albums The proportion of Top 100 albums released in the previous 12 months continued to decline, down by one to just 17, although these did include six of the top nine. The number of albums which were at least three years old by the end of the year increased, from 60 to 64. The following artists made their Year End Top 100 debuts in 2024:- Sabrina Carpenter (at #3 with her sixth studio album, and #84 with her fifth), Chappell Roan (#6, debut album), Charli XCX (#8, sixth), Teddy Swims (#34, debut), CoComelon (#39, see below), Gracie Abrams (#42, second), Benson Boone (#55, debut), Fontaines DC (#61, fourth), The Last Dinner Party (#83, debut) and Morgan Wallen (#98, third). The successes of Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Fontaines DC and Morgan Wallen provide further evidence of the need for record companies to invest in artist development, rather than discarding them if their first album falls below expectations. Notable also is that the breakthrough artists span several genres, including pop, rock and country, implying that, despite the increasing stagnation in the weekly albums chart, there are many music fans eager to hear many types of new music.

Compilation Mainstays The line chart below plots the Year End positions since 2017 of a dozen mainstays of the albums chart, all of which are compilations. The artist line-up is diverse to say the least. It includes artists whose chart career began in the 1960s (Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie), the 1970s (Elton John, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Queen, Bob Marley & The Wailers), 1980s (George Michael), 1990s (Oasis, Eminem), 2000s (Maroon 5) and 2010s (The Weeknd). These artists span multiple genres, and the demographics of their most enthusiastic fans almost certainly cover much of the British population. Artists on an upward trend in 2024 were:- Oasis, whose albums surged up the chart in the wake of their reformation announcement; Michael Jackson, whose overall album consumption was at its highest since 2010; Maroon 5, whose Singles collection reached an all-time year end peak of #35, with equivalent sales almost five times as high as actual sales the year it was released; and George Michael, whose Twenty Five almost matched its sales the year after he died. The sales of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Legend was this title’s highest annual total since 1992. This album is also the compilation with the longest unbroken run in the annual Top 100, now standing at 11 consecutive years. All twelve of these albums had a higher year end chart position in 2024 than their average position for 2017-2023, except for David Bowie’s Legacy, which had averaged #42 but was only #59 last year. However, Legacy did become David Bowie’s fifth million selling LP in the UK during 2024.

Compilations The proportion of the Top 100 occupied by Artist Compilations was 35% in 2024 – the first time since the arrival of streaming that it has decreased. The OCC’s policy of double counting streams against studio albums and compilation albums is the root cause of the growth in representation of greatest hits collections, but it did reverse in 2024, with one fewer on the list than in 2023. There were four Year End Top 100 new entries by compilations in 2024 – by Linkin Park, Ed Sheeran, The Killers (Rebel Diamonds) and The Cure’s Greatest Hits. The latter was released in 2001, and has sold over 1,100,000 copies, but made its first ever appearance in the year end list in 2024. There were also two re-entries – The Rolling Stones’ Forty Licks, which was last in the year end Top 100 in 2002, the year it was released; and Celine Dion’s My Love – The Essential Collection, which had previously made the rundown in 2008 and 2011. Like The Cure’s collection, both of these have cumulative sales well into seven figures. Dropping out were greatest hits sets by Pink, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Guns N’ Roses, The Killers (Direct Hits) and The Beatles (1). The latter suffered from streams flip-flopping between the 1962-66 and 1967-70 albums some weeks, and 1 others, and is not indicative of a decline in the popularity of the band.

Albums Selling over 100,000 copies A natural consequence of this is that more artist albums sold into six figures that at any time during the streaming era. In 2024, 82 titles passed 100,000, compared to just 42 in 2020. However, the proportion of the Year End Top 100 achieved by British artists was at a low point of just 35. British representation has trended downwards every year since 2019. In the opinion of The Music Chronicle the BPI is failing to promote home-grown artists effectively in an increasingly global market.

Threshold Growth The sales required to reach the year end Top 20, Top 50 and Top 100 grew markedly in 2024, up 14%, 8% and 7% respectively. As the line graph below shows, each was at its highest level since streaming became the dominant form of music consumption.

2024 Top 100 Artists Albums - Music Chronicle Analysis Further to the 2024 Year End Top 100 Artists Albums published by the OCC on its website, The Music Chronicle has created some additional material which analyses the Albums chart. Note: Throughout this piece, the word “sales” has been used to mean physical sales (CDs, vinyl and cassettes), plus digital sales (downloads), plus sales equivalent streams (audio and video), converted at the rate determined by the OCC.

Here are some of the comments we have received about The Music Chronicle 1985 “An excellent series of books, presenting detailed, accurate and fascinating coverage of the musical happenings of this decade.” “Another triumph !” “A wealth of information that I wasn’t previously aware of.” “Loads of really well researched facts and figures.” “Every bit as interesting as previous years.” “Receiving the new editions is one of the highlights of my year.” “I love dipping into these when I have a moment to spare.” “Just a cursory flick through allows one to alight upon random fascinating (if sometimes obscure, but delightfully so!) facts or observations.” “Thorough and widescale coverage.” “Superb collection of books.” “Well presented.” “Something for everybody.” “Great job !” “Each and every time excellent all round.” Praise for previous editions of The Music Chronicles “I study the UK Charts avidly, but there were many details in the book that I was unaware of. I cannot praise the book enough.” “Covers all the important and interesting musical facts and events of the year very well. I get the feeling I may be referring to this book often in the future and look forward to seeing other years in the series.” ”Well researched and well worth the price! It's full of good facts” “A great addition to my music book library. The content is outstanding. I'll happily recommend it to people.” “I’m very impressed with the detail and work that has gone into these books.” “I think what I like best about it is not the pure stats. The book eschews what you can find on the internet. The joy is in the value added. So some rather intriguing lists.” “It really is a fantastic source of information for the price.” “…genuine social history matters inside… causing me to take a fresh look at things.” “The Music Chronicles are brilliant.”

Hope your copy has now arrived. A big year for Madonna, and I note she appears on 67 pages !

The Music Chronicle 1985 The latest book in the highly acclaimed series looks in detail at 1985, documenting the best sellers, the major festivals and tours, the award winners, the films and television shows, the technological developments, the industry’s financials, the headline news stories and the unlikely trivia which go together to create the vibrant and diverse British music scene. Across 285 pages, The Music Chronicle 1985 presents over 200 lists, graphics and short articles collecting everything you need to know about the British music scene and its place in music history. In time for the 40th anniversary, The Music Chronicle 1985 shines a spotlight on Live Aid, Madonna, Brothers In Arms, Bruce Springsteen, Wham! in China, Paul Hardcastle, Go West, Kate Bush, Austrian music, Ashford & Simpson, Miami Vice, Phil Collins, rotoscope videos, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards, Simon Le Bon's sailing adventures, Phyllis Nelson, Cowpunk, Jennifer Rush, Aled Jones, The Glasgow Apollo, The Damned, 80s Supergroups, Tears For Fears, pirate radio, Orinoco Studios, Go Go music, the worst singles of the 1980s, The Filthy Fifteen, Meat Loaf, The Heartbreakers, Modern Talking, Rock In Rio, and much more, in this entertaining, informative and detailed book. Who were the best selling songwriters and producers of 1985 ? Which tours and festivals attracted the most attention ? What were the critics’ favourite albums of the year ? What were the biggest American hits that failed to chart in the UK ? What were the biggest British hits abroad ? Which artists sold more records in 1985 than they did in any other year ? Which artists benefited the most from Live Aid ? Who had a hand in 27 hit records during 1985 ? Who set a new speed record for having singles peak at each of the top five positions on the chart ? How many weeks was Brothers In Arms at number one around the world ? Which hit single used lyrics that could be 3,000 years old ? How did Paul Hardcastle contribute to the creation of Pop Idol ? Which band had to reschedule a concert because the BBC needed the Hammersmith Palais to film Come Dancing ? Who was in court accused of plagiarising themselves ? Given the assembled talent, which supergroups could be judged the biggest failures ? All of these questions are answered amongst the wealth of information that builds to tell the complete story of popular music in 1985.

The seventh book in The Music Chronicle series is now available. The cheapest way to buy The Music Chronicle 1985, for £9.99 plus £2.70 p+p (UK), is by sending an e-mail to musicchronicle@yahoo.com. We will then send you our bank account details so you can make a direct transfer. We will dispatch the book as soon as the payment is received. Alternatively, the book is available on eBay for £11.99 plus postage. Follow this link:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133938581613 Buyers outside the UK are strongly recommended to purchase the book directly by sending an e-mail to musicchronicle@yahoo.com, because we will charge postage at cost, unlike eBay. All of the previous editions of The Music Chronicle sold out. However, this year we obtained a small number of re-prints. If you have any gaps in your collection, please contact us at the above e-mail address. For anyone who wishes to buy all six books, covering 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985, then there is a special offer at eBay which allows you to buy all six books for the price of five. Here is the link:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135291030938

If anyone is looking for a stocking filler this Christmas, and hasn't yet discovered The Music Chronicles, here are some of the comments about the 1984 installment which have been posted since its publication six weeks ago:- Another tour de force of incredibly wide and deep research resulting in an unrivalled and hitherto unpublished musical miscellany. A unique summation of musical history in the late 20th century. An absolutely fantastic read as always!! I love these books :-) I do love in particular the way in which Sean debunks the whole “Mike Read's 'Relax' ban sent it to No 1” presumption that's prevailed for what is almost 40 years now! If only more people would read his books because then they'd get some surprises and have some lazy old preconceptions about the music of the period shattered, or at least seriously queried in an informed way. I wanted to let you know how much I love these books. Receiving them each year in November is one of the highlights of my year. It's become one of my traditions that I pick them up all up again just before Christmas and start reading them from 1980 onwards through to the latest edition. I'm building up quite a collection of Music Chronicles now so I need to re-read them earlier and earlier each year. It's my Christmas Day treat that I devour the latest instalment from cover to cover. You’ve crafted something that really works and captures and conjures up the year perfectly! These books are absolutely amazing. There is so much detail in there, I don't know how you've found the time to pull all this together, but I'm sincerely glad you have done. The format of the analysis always makes for a fascinating read. This series really is brilliant. I think you leave us all wanting the whole collection asap! Compiled meticulously. Painstaking research. Received my copy today to go with the others in this great series. Definitely worth buying. The Music Chronicle books are excellent.

Thank you very much for your kind comments.

The Music Chronicle 1984 The latest book in the highly acclaimed series looks in detail at 1984, documenting the best sellers, the major festivals and tours, the award winners, the films and television shows, the technological developments, the industry’s financials, the headline news stories and the unlikely trivia which go together to create the vibrant and diverse British music scene. Across 280 pages, The Music Chronicle 1984 presents over 200 lists, graphics and short articles collecting everything you need to know about the British music scene and its place in music history. In time for the 40th anniversary, The Music Chronicle 1984 shines a spotlight on Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Wham!, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, The Smiths, ZZ Top, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Legend, Sade and jazz-pop fusion, This Is Spinal Tap, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Hits Album, Nena, Nik Kershaw, Nellie The Elephant, Can’t Slow Down, Trevor Horn, Billy Joel, Break Dancing, Stevie Wonder, Agadoo, Godley & Creme’s videos, Graham Lyle, brown M&Ms, Ronco, Jamaican hits, The Jacksons’ Victory Tour, Queen, Ultravox, The Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Deep Purple, and much more, in this entertaining, informative and detailed book. Who were the biggest selling songwriters and producers of 1984 ? Which tours and festivals attracted the most attention ? What were the critics’ favourite albums of the year ? What were the biggest American hits that failed to chart in the UK ? What were the biggest British hits abroad ? Which artists sold more records in 1984 than they did in any other year ? Which future superstars were struggling for attention in 1984 ? Who are the top Jamaican stars in the British charts ? What tipped the balance between The Hits Album and Now That’s What I Call Music 4 ? Who played on three consecutive number one albums by different acts ? Who links Jim Diamond to AC/DC ? And who links Evelyn Thomas to The Pogues ? Which Scot won a Grammy in a Mexican music category ? Which soap star became the oldest ever album chart debutant ? Who was No.1 magazine’s oldest cover star of 1984 ? Who needed an ambulance on the runway when their Concorde flight landed in New York ? Who has tattoos of Sade on their torso ? All of these questions are answered amongst the wealth of information that builds to tell the complete story of popular music in 1984.

The sixth book in The Music Chronicle series is now available. The cheapest way to buy The Music Chronicle 1984, for £9.99 plus £2.70 p+p (UK), is by sending an e-mail to musicchronicle@yahoo.com. We will then send you our bank account details so you can make a direct transfer. We will dispatch the book as soon as the payment is received. Alternatively, the book is available on eBay for £11.99 plus postage. Follow this link. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133938581613 Buyers outside the UK are strongly recommended to purchase the book directly by sending an e-mail to musicchronicle@yahoo.com, because we will charge postage at cost, unlike eBay. During the summer we ordered re-prints of all of the previous Music Chronicles, and there are a few still available. For those who missed any of them, and wish to catch up or complete the set, please send an e-mail to musicchronicle@yahoo.com. There are editions covering 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and Christmas singles and albums since 1939.

Here are some of the comments I have received about the Music Chronicle 1983. “Your wonderful book arrived yesterday and I’ve been devouring it ever since. I love it! “ “What a feast for chart data fans.” “The Music Chronicle 1983 - absolutely wonderful !” “Got my copy of the latest volume of this excellent series.” “I can clearly see that your work is wide-ranging - lots of info to digest.”

British artists account for exactly half of 2022’s year end chart – one slot less than 2021 and two less than 2020. It must be said that British acts dominated the tracks chart in 2022, so the home market still seems to be in good health. The number of albums accumulating more than 100,000 chart sales in 2022 climbed again, from 44 to 45. It remains to be seen whether 2020 will represent a long term trough. The thresholds for making the Year End Top 20, Top 50 and Top 100 all rose slightly in 2022, suggesting the overall rise in streaming consumption is counteracting the relentless decline in physical sales. Long term forecasting is fraught with problems. Whilst the live scene, which undoubtedly stimulates sales, is prospering again after the pandemic shutdown, the cost-of-living crisis will surely hit physical sales. The number of artists whose new releases create a major fuss has now dwindled to a very small number, as demonstrated by the comparatively modest appearances of Beyonce at #35 and Drake at #67 on the 2022 list. It remains to be seen whether any artists manage to score 100,000 sales in a week during 2023. Of those whose names currently appear on the forthcoming releases schedule, perhaps only Lewis Capaldi has six-figure potential for week one. This points towards another year with greatest hits by established superstars again populating the upper reaches of the year end lists, unless the OCC adjusts its double-counting rules for track streams. It is notable that today’s BBC report on the year end best sellers lists described this as a “quirk” and a “bug”. Thus it isn’t just chart watchers like the contributors to this forum who are wondering whether the current policy is either an accurate reflection of popularity or of help to the music industry’s long term prospects. (Note that all of this analysis has stripped various artists soundtracks out of the 2018 year end list, to ensure like-for-like comparisions with 2019-2022).

A trend which should cause alarm within the industry is the steep decline in the number of new releases within the Top 100. In 2018, exactly half of the year end list was filled by new product. In 2022 this crashed to just 20%. As the chart below shows, this void has been filled by albums which are more than 3 years old. The next chart may shed some light on this phenomenon. The largest chunk of the 2022 year end list was filled with albums originally released between 2015 and 2019. This possibly corresponds to streaming activity being dominated by people aged between 15 and 24 who are continuing to enjoy music from their younger teenage years. But it begs the question of what material will prosper in the late 2020s if so few brand new albums are now having an impact upon release. The oldest studio album to enter the year end Top 100 in 2022 is 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ (2002), making its first annual chart appearance in 19 years. The oldest drop-out is Jess Glynne’s I Cry When I Laugh (2015). It is hard to pick out any trends from a plot of the 11 most popular “classic” studio albums. To a certain extent, performance ebbs and flows with new releases by the same artists – hence Ed Sheeran and Adele sliding compared 2021, and Arctic Monkeys rising. The latter enjoyed an 11 place climb for AM, a 14 spot improvement for Whatever People Say…, and a re-entry for Favourite Worst Nightmare, alongside the third highest new entry of 2022 for The Car. Despite hitting number one on the weekly chart for the third year (after 2011 and 2020), Michael Buble’s Christmas is clearly on a downward trajectory.

2022 Top 100 Albums Analysis Several commentators have drawn attention to the presence of six greatest hits albums in the Year End Top 10. But this trend hasn’t been observed throughout the year end chart. Across the Top 100, greatest hits albums increased their share by just 2%, to 28%. This total has climbed slowly and steadily over the past five years. 3 greatest hits albums dropped out of the Top 100 from 2021 to 2022, with 2 re-entries and 3 new entries:- - Elvis Presley’s Elv1s – 30 #1 Hits (2002) replaced The 50 Greatest Hits (2000), as streaming allocation shifted from one set to the other; - Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (2021) and the Bee Gees (2017) compilations also departed. In came:- - 50 Cent’s 2017 Best Of, making its first appearance in a year end Top 100; - Whitney Houston’s 2012 I Will Always Love You, also the beneficiary of an allocation switch and also making its year end debut; - Nirvana, back into the year end Top 100 for the first time since its release in 2002; and - The Script’s 2021 Tales From The Script, making its year end bow. The chart below plots the year end chart positions of 11 strongly performing perennials. Ten of the eleven finished higher in 2022 than 2021, and the same ten also increased their chart sales. The biggest uplift was for Eminem’s Curtain Call, with a sales increase of almost 50% thanks in part to the release of a sequel. Oasis (+18%) and ABBA (+12%) had the next biggest consumption increases. The others all grew by between 5% and 8%, with the sole exception of Queen’s Greatest Hits, with sales down 16% as the impact of the Bohemian Rhapsody film continued to diminish.