UK Record Sales 1964-2008 (overview)

UK Record Sales 1964–2008

Trade delivery figures are no longer reported by BPI, instead retail sales data now forms the base for most BPI statistics. Please see the following two pages for such data:

Trade deliveries 1964–2008, million units

Year		Singles	%	LP	%	MC	%	8T/CD	%	MD	%	Total Albums	%
1929	T	60.000
1938	T	6.000
1945	T	10.000
1959	T	60.000
1964	T	64.000										24.000
1965	T	56.000	-12.50%
1966	T	46.000	-17.86%
1967	T	46.000
1968	T	44.000	-4.35%
1969	T	41.000	-6.82%
1970	T	41.000
1971	T	43.000	4.88%
1972	T	46.200	7.44%	59.300		4.900		3.200				67.400
1973	T	54.600	18.18%	81.000	36.59%	9.800	100.00%	5.700	78.13%			96.500	43.18%
1974	T	62.700	14.84%	89.500	10.49%	14.000	42.86%	6.200	8.77%			109.700	13.68%
1975	T	56.900	-9.25%	91.600	2.35%	16.500	17.86%	3.700	-40.32%			111.800	1.91%
1976	T	56.900		83.800	-8.52%	16.000	-3.03%	2.200	-40.54%			102.000	-8.77%
1977	T	62.100	9.14%	81.700	-2.51%	18.500	15.63%	1.100	-50.00%			101.300	-0.69%
1978	T	88.800	43.00%	86.100	5.39%	20.600	11.35%	0.600	-45.45%			107.300	5.92%
1979	T	89.100	0.34%	74.500	-13.47%	23.200	12.62%	0.100	-83.33%			97.800	-8.85%
1980	T	77.900	-12.57%	67.400	-9.53%	25.200	8.62%					92.600	-5.32%
1981	T	77.400	-0.64%	64.000	-5.04%	28.900	14.68%					92.900	0.32%
1982	T	78.600	1.55%	57.800	-9.69%	31.500	9.00%					89.300	-3.88%
1983	T	74.000	-5.85%	54.300	-6.06%	35.800	13.65%	0.250				90.350	1.18%
1984	T	77.000	4.05%	54.100	-0.37%	45.400	26.82%	0.900	260.00%			100.400	11.12%
1985	T	73.800	-4.16%	53.000	-2.03%	55.400	22.03%	3.100	244.44%			111.500	11.06%
1986	T	67.500	-8.54%	52.300	-1.32%	69.600	25.63%	8.400	170.97%			130.300	16.86%
1987	T	63.413	-6.05%	52.155	-0.28%	74.423	6.93%	18.162	116.21%			144.740	11.08%
1988	T	60.118	-5.20%	50.208	-3.73%	80.874	8.67%	29.196	60.75%			160.278	10.74%
1989	T	61.114	1.66%	37.897	-24.52%	83.040	2.68%	41.726	42.92%			162.663	1.49%
1990	T	58.858	-3.69%	24.719	-34.77%	75.076	-9.59%	50.853	21.87%			150.648	-7.39%
1991	T	56.302	-4.34%	12.892	-47.85%	66.788	-11.04%	62.830	23.55%			142.510	-5.40%
1992	T	52.921	-6.01%	6.664	-48.31%	56.449	-15.48%	70.485	12.18%			133.598	-6.25%
1993	T	56.276	6.34%	4.959	-25.59%	55.698	-1.33%	92.857	31.74%			153.514	14.91%
1994	T	63.049	12.04%	4.512	-9.01%	56.043	0.62%	116.356	25.31%			176.911	15.24%
1995	T	70.711	12.15%	3.621	-19.75%	53.365	-4.78%	139.159	19.60%			196.145	10.87%
1996	T	78.264	10.68%	2.447	-32.42%	46.210	-13.41%	159.731	14.78%			208.388	6.24%
1997	T	87.021*	11.19%	2.475	1.14%	36.629	-20.73%	158.756	-0.61%			197.860	-5.05%
1998	T	79.373	-8.79%	2.208	-10.79%	32.242	-11.98%	175.715	10.68%	0.240		210.405	6.34%
1999	T	80.059	0.86%	2.259	2.31%	18.403	-42.92%	176.867	0.66%	0.434	80.63%	197.963	-5.91%
2000	T	66.080	-17.46%	3.168	40.24%	11.378	-38.17%	201.624	14.00%	0.299	-31.03%	216.469	9.35%
2001	T	59.532	-9.91%	2.620	-17.30%	4.610	-59.48%	218.630	8.43%	0.072	-75.92%	225.932	4.37%
2002	T	52.532	-11.76%	2.218	-15.34%	1.866	-59.52%	221.614	1.36%	0.016	-77.78%	225.714	-0.10%
2003	T	36.425	-30.66%	2.008	-9.47%	0.903	-51.61%	233.950	5.57%	0.003	-81.25%	236.864	4.94%
2003	T	36.425	-30.66%	2.008	-9.47%	0.903	-51.61%	233.950	5.57%	0.003	-81.25%	236.864	4.94%
2004	T	37.206	2.14%	1.468	-26.89%	0.463	-48.73%	237.438	1.49%	0.000	-100.00%	239.369	1.06%
2005	T	53.209	43.01%	1.182	-19.48%	0.581	25.49%	229.248	-3.45%			231.011	-3.49%
2006	T	71.500	34.38%	–		–		–				222.5*	-4.89%
2007	T	89.300	24.89%	–		–		–				193.8*	-12.81%
2008	T	116.900	30.91%	–		–		–				188.7*	-2.63%
Year		Singles	%	LP	%	MC	%	CD	%	MD	%	Total Albums	%

*) Subtracting Elton John's 4.770m sales of "Something About The Way You Look Tonight / Candle In The Wind 1997" leaves 82.25m delivered singles. For 1997 there is still a rise of 5.1% and the reduction in 1998 is halved to 3.5%.
Albums 2006 onwards: estimate due to change in definition.

Sources:

Statistical Handbooks and Yearbooks of the BPI -- British Phonographic Industry Ltd., and surveys by the BPI and IFPI published by Music Week, MBI, IFPI, and the BPI Website.