2020 visionaries: (L-R) Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi all ended up in the Top 5 albums of 2020
released in 2020 (265,042 sales). So you could say the decision to bring the
release forward in March, as other acts put campaigns on hold, paid off. “At the point that the pandemic hit, there
were conversations,” recalls Derek Allen, SVP, commercial at Warner Music. “But we, the label, artist and management all felt, ‘Let’s go for it’. It was a brave decision and it was the right decision.” In fact, Future Nostalgia was one of only
two 2020 releases in the year-end Top 10, compared to six 2019 LPs that finished in that year’s overall Top 10. “That says quite a bit about the fact that a
lot of records were held back because of the pandemic,” adds Allen. While big Q4 albums from AC/DC, Little Mix and Kylie Minogue braved the uncertainty on the high street, Lewis Capaldi was always going to be hard to beat. In the event, the Scottish balladeer’s Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (EMI) finished well clear of its nearest rival, Fine Line (Columbia) by Harry Styles (455,914 versus 293,435). Capaldi even broke Ed Sheeran’s record with 77 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 albums chart, a relentless chart assault that started at the summit. So how did Capaldi conquer 2019 and 2020? “First and foremost, great music!” says David Hawkes, MD,
Commercial Division, Universal Music UK. “Lewis is also one of the hardest working artists there is. “If you look back over the year, there have been some
MUSIC WEEK’S METHODOLOGY
In order to provide the most comprehensive picture of the UK music market, Music Week and the Official Charts Company now use the All Music metric as our headline measurement. This shows the share of the total, identifiable recorded music market, encompassing sales and streams of all recorded music consumption, in versions that both include and exclude compilations. Video streams have been added to total market calculations and all streams weighted according to whether ad-funded or premium. 2019 figures have been restated for accurate comparison. Figures for the albums market also include budget albums.
TALENT It was the year that everything changed – except the charts. The coronavirus pandemic may have impacted every area of our lives, but 2020’s overall Top 40 albums felt comfortingly familiar during a disorientating year. Whether it was a reduced release schedule, housebound fans playing old favourites during Covid-19, or a combination of the two, the year in music looks a lot like a continuation of 2019 (Lewis Capaldi, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone). And the 1990s (Oasis), 1980s (Queen), 1970s (Fleetwood Mac) and 1960s (The Beatles). Who would have thought that DSPs would end up
encouraging us to wallow in the past, albeit with the terrible music from each era edited out of your personal playlist? So all hail Dua Lipa and her Future Nostalgia (Warner
Records), which deliberately drew upon past influences to create a forward-looking pop classic. Now a global star, the UK artist was responsible for the biggest-selling album
musicweek.com
incredible activations as well as a strong e-commerce offering from EMI, and Lewis has done what he does best: direct-to-fan engagement. You only have to see Lewis on screen and he always manages to lift spirits. Let’s face it, we’ve all needed a bit of that in the past year…” For Sony Music artist Harry Styles, it was a very different
trajectory. Debuting at No.3 way back in December 2019, Fine Line actually peaked at No.2 in January 2021. “He consolidated his position as a worldwide superstar,” says Charles Wood, Sony Music UK’s VP of market planning & media. “I’m sure it’s going to keep going across the year, there’s no sign of it going away yet.” Sony’s only other Top 20 album for the
year was a reissue of Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (Big Brother) at No.20 (134,751 sales), although LPs released late in the year by AC/DC, Little Mix and Bruce Springsteen all made the overall Top 40. “It was a quieter release schedule,” says
Wood of the albums performance. Those Sony acts delivered in Q4, with the major securing three of the quarter’s Top 5 LPs. Former Music Week cover stars AC/DC’s Power Up (Columbia) was No.2 in Q4 (127,817). The resurgent rock veterans, who had the
year’s biggest weekly sale (61,979), were only bested over the course of Q4 by Michael Ball & Alfie Boe. Together At Christmas (Decca) sold 139,200 copies in six weeks (with a mere 1.3% of sales from streams). Universal secured five of the year’s Top 10 albums, as well as landing two separate No.1 LPs with EMI artist Taylor Swift. Folklore finished the year in 12th place overall on 179,471 sales.
“Lewis Capaldi always manages to lift spirits - we all needed a bit of that this year”
DAVID HAWKES UNIVERSAL MUSIC
Warner had four albums in the overall
Top 10, including Stormzy’s Heavy Is The Head (Atlantic/Merky) at No.5 (222,791). Universal had the No.1 single of the
year with The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights (Island/Republic/XO), which racked up 2,208,733 sales. Warner was in second place with Tones And I’s Dance Monkey (Parlophone) on 1,594,531. Released in May 2019, Dance Monkey has moved up from its No.8 finish last year. Sony came out on top for singles in
Q4, with Mood by 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior (Black Butter/Records) on 550,167 sales in the quarter. And there was some festive cheer for the major when Wham!’s 1984 hit Last Christmas became the final No.1 of the year. “We had an amazing Q4 across tracks and finally got Wham! to No.1,” smiles Wood. “The whole commercial division breathed a huge sigh of relief.” But now the pressure’s on to take Last Christmas to No.1 again next Christmas…
MARKET TRENDS The live business was devastated last year, merchandise sales were down and music publishers are braced for reduced rights income as a result of the pandemic. But recorded music powered ahead in 2020, with a captive
audience listening to more music at home (although they may have been spending even more time on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video). According to BPI figures, AES was up 8.2% year-on-year to
155.4 million albums or their equivalent. The UK racked up 139 billion audio streams, an increase of 21.9% on 2019. “There’s been a well-documented upturn in streaming, which has been driven by increasing numbers of subscribers across all platforms, but also the changes in behaviour as people moved to home devices for their choice of listening,” explains David Hawkes. Warner’s Derek Allen (Amazon) echoes that reading of the
“Harry Styles consolidated his position as a global superstar”
CHARLES WOOD SONY MUSIC
year’s streaming growth. “It feels like the DSPs have been the winners, if you could be as crude as to put the impact of the pandemic in terms of winners and losers,” he says. “It’s clear that music is a big part of people’s lives and something they turn to in bad times. During the pandemic, people turned to streaming. “[Amazon’s] performance of Alexa in the home has become ever more prominent and relevant. While people are consuming music at home, that’s played to their strengths. Amazon have come the furthest in that nine-month period over lockdown. Their dominance in the hardware market has dovetailed nicely with their music offer.” The growing dependence on services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music powered a 20.2% increase in streams year-on-year to 125.2m units (SEA), 80.6% of the total (compared to 74.4% in 2019). “As the year panned out, it became clear that the consumption model was changing,” suggests Allen. “It seemed like the natural evolution of where we thought the market was going was
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