LONDON — New talent helped British music record its best year in nearly a decade during 2006.
Trade body the British Phonographic Industry revealed Friday that U.K. acts claimed a 61.9% share of bestselling albums in their home country during 2006, with no fewer that 14 new British acts seeing their debut releases reach the top 100 album chart, compared with just eight the previous year.
The biggest-selling album of 2006 in the U.K. was Snow Patrol's "Eyes Open," which sold more than 1.5 million copies. Another four U.K. acts sold over one million units of their albums — Take That, Arctic Monkeys, Kooks and Razorlight, while seven of the top 10 albums of the year were by British acts.
This combination of both new and established artists helped U.K. acts claim their largest share of album bestsellers since 1997.
"Two years ago we predicted we were entering a new golden age for British music. These numbers confirm that British music is going through an outstandingly creative period, which is capturing the imagination of music buyers," said BPI chairman Peter Jamieson.
"The success enjoyed by new artists is testament both to the creativity of a new generation, but also to the commitment of recording companies to invest in new talent."
U.K. record label Polydor was one of the major winners during 2006, with the top three best-selling albums of the year, Snow Patrol, Take That and Scissor Sisters.
The BPI figures also reveal that the demand for digital downloads is still growing, with the number of digital sales up nearly 99% on 2005. Digital accounted for 79% of singles sales, which totaled 66.9 million units, with the biggest single of the year, Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," selling more than 400,000 downloads.
Said Jamieson, "Just a couple of years ago, some commentators predicted the death of the single. We are now looking at a market that has doubled in three years, thanks to downloads."
However, 2006 marked a 2.5% dip in album sales to 155.1 million units.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com