Streaming drives UK entertainment sales 9.4% higher in 2018 according to the end of year report from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). This represents the sixth consecutive year of growth. Although the entertainment market is now three quarters digital physical formats have dominated this year’s biggest hits.
According to preliminary data compiled by the ERA the entertainment market reached another all-time high of £7.537 Bn in 2018. After a sixth successive year of growth driven by digital services from the likes of Spotify, Steam, Netflix, Amazon, DEEZER, Sky, Apple and Google, digital revenues accounted for more than three-quarters (76.1%) of entertainment sales value in 2018. On a market level, digital revenues now dominate all three sectors, with digital generating 80.1% of games revenues, 72.3% of video and 71.3% of music.
Despite the move to digital, physical sales are still important contributing 61% on the Top 20 albums. The biggest music and video hit of the year, Hollywood musical The Greatest Showman, sold nearly two-thirds of its combined 4.3m sales on CD, DVD and Blu-ray.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “On a market level these figures are a stunning testament to the investment and innovation of digital services who have transformed the fortunes of an entertainment industry many had thought was doomed by the internet and piracy. Significantly in this week of HMV’s news, however, the data shows that if you want a real mass market hit, you need the reach and convenience of physical formats.
Music streams its way to success
Music registered its fourth successive year of growth in 2018 thanks to streaming with revenues generated by services like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, DEEZER and Google/YouTube growing 37.7% to reach £829.1m.
The switch away from downloads continued with single track downloads down 25.5% over the year and album downloads down 26.3%.
Physical formats performed less well, with CD unit sales down another 23.1%. After a decade of growth, vinyl album sales grew just 1.6%.
The music sector is now 30% bigger than it was at its 2014 low-point of £1.03bn, but it is still well off its 2001 peak of £2.11bn.
The key trend in music in 2018 was the strength of original movie cast recordings. The biggest seller was The Greatest Showman with sales of 1.62m units and it was accompanied in the Top 10 by two other original movie cast recordings – Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again and A Star Is Born.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “Streaming services were once again the star performers in the UK music market in 2018, but the continuing strength of physical sales at the top end of the chart means that unless you are a hip-hop artist, the only way to have a really big album is to generate CD sales as well as streams.”
The UK’s Biggest Albums 2018
| Title | Artist | Total Units | % Digital | % Physical | |
| 1 | The Greatest Showman | Cast Recording | 1,621,905 | 48.7% | 51.3% |
| 2 | Staying At Tamara’s | George Ezra | 691,332 | 29.5% | 70.5% |
| 3 | Divide | Ed Sheeran | 510,305 | 59.1% | 40.9% |
| 4 | Now That’s What I Call Music 100 | Various Artists | 479,197 | 14.6% | 85.4% |
| 5 | Now That’s What I Call Music 99 | Various Artists | 395,237 | 16.9% | 83.1% |
| 6 | Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again | Cast Recording | 374,476 | 34.1% | 65.9% |
| 7 | Scorpion | Drake | 300,100 | 93.1% | 6.9% |
| 8 | Now That’s What I Call Music 101 | Various Artists | 287,217 | 7.2% | 92.8% |
| 9 | Beerbongs & Bentleys | Post Malone | 281,644 | 91.9% | 8.1% |
| 10 | A Star Is Born | Cast Recording | 271,635 | 35.9% | 64.1% |
| 11 | Love | Michael Buble | 263,538 | 6.7% | 93.3% |
| 12 | Dua Lipa | Dua Lipa | 251,280 | 65.1% | 34.9% |
| 13 | Kamikaze | Eminem | 232,420 | 71.6% | 28.4% |
| 14 | Odyssey | Take That | 231,290 | 7.1% | 92.9% |
| 15 | Si | Andrea Bocelli | 213,321 | 5.1% | 94.9% |
| 16 | Bohemian Rhapsody – OST | Queen | 210,306 | 35.2% | 64.8% |
| 17 | Always In Between | Jess Glynne | 204,923 | 28.2% | 71.8% |
| 18 | Blood Red Roses | Rod Stewart | 196,192 | 5.1% | 94.9% |
| 19 | Sweetener | Ariana Grande | 193,362 | 61.7% | 38.3% |
| 20 | The Architect | Paloma Faith | 179,716 | 22.9% | 77.1% |
Source: The Official Charts Company
The ERA is the trade association representing the vast majority of retailers and digital services offering music, video and games. Its members range from independent record shops (Reflex, Sister Ray) to digital services (Spotify, Google, Sky, Deezer, 7digital) to internet retailers (Amazon) to specialist High Street operators (HMV, Game) and supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons).
The full report from the ERA can be found here.
