Charting the Charter

BBC Music Radio: playback data, artist development and the charter.

My thanks to Soundcharts for giving me access to their comprehensive dashboards and API access for the data for this piece.

Last month I published Milestone or Millstone. In it, I examined the contention, published by some of the UK’s trade associations, that 2024 was a great year for the country’s recorded music sector. While the figures suggested an industry in good health, the top 200 albums chart for 2024 showed that new British music couldn’t get enough playback last year. Only 14 albums by British artists released in 2024 made the top 200, and only one debut album, from The Last Dinner Party. The success of 2024 was driven by the hits of yesteryear, as well as music from recently-broken US artists; as music is a regenerative market, i.e. dependent on the development of new music and new star performers, this is a problem for British record labels and the wider industry.