Releasing 2017 music industry statistics for Great Britain on Jan. 3, labels trade body BPI boasted new milestones were achieved with considerable thanks to streaming and Ed Sheeran.
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Overall British music sales grew 9.5 percent, its highest rate of increase this century. Streaming tallied more than 50 percent of total consumption, with 68 billion streams listened to in the U.K. in 2017 — 1.5 billion in the second week of December alone.
Although this is great news, British music industry leaders remain tempered in their excitement about the growth.
"It is important to remember that the music industry still has a long way to go to recover fully. Structural challenges must be overcome if long-term growth is to be sustained," said Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive. "We must continue to fight the 'Value Gap,' so that all digital platforms pay fairly for their use of music."
In addition to Sheeran's record-breaking year, Taylor made sure to thank outstanding U.K. exports Liam Gallagher, Sam Smith and newcomer Rag'N'Bone Man, whose 2017 U.K. album sales joined Sheeran in more-than-a-million territory in the final week of December.
