UK Charts Go Pop

Posted Mon 26 Oct 2009 12:27PM GMT by Dave Rumour in Snap, Crackle and Pop

The British music business is in terminal decline, so the saying goes. A rapidly evolving, tech-savvy world is leaving the labels and musicians behind. Doom and bankruptcy awaits, apparently. Well you wouldn't have thought so judging by new figures released today, that show the UK pop charts are in rude, unparalleled health. Singles sales have reportedly hit a record high in 2009, already exceeding last year's total of 115.1 million. With ten weeks still to go, 117.6 million have been shifted.

Remarkably, 99 per cent have been sold in downloads, illustrating exactly where the power now lies. Welcoming the news, Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company, said: "This truly is the era of the digital single", while Geoff Taylor, chief executive of industry group the BPI, insisted there was more to come if the "black" market could be harnessed. "That singles have hit these heights while there are still more than a billion illegal downloads every year in the UK is testimony to the quality of releases this year and the vibrancy of the UK download market", he explained.

A lot of the credit here, of course, must go to the acts themselves, who have made 2009 the year in which pop really went pop, whatever the label big-wigs might have us believe. Presented below are the five biggest tracks of the year, from the top down. Something tells us that Cheryl Cole could yet have something to say about that Number One spot, however...

#1 Lady GaGa "Poker Face"

#2 Lady GaGa "Just Dance"

#3 Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling"

#4 La Roux "In For The Kill"

#5 Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"

53 Comments

1. X - Mon 26 Oct 2009 3:19PM GMT

persian gulf

Report Abuse

2. Alister - Mon 26 Oct 2009 3:35PM GMT

Oh...That pirating thing the record industry always complains about must really be hurting......................

3. General Disbelief - Mon 26 Oct 2009 3:42PM GMT

So if 99% of single sales are from downloads, how can that be compared with going out to buy a cd/ casette/ vinyl? As usual it's all spin and no truth!! If there were downloads in 1960 sales would have been higher than they were, but artists still sold millions of their records.

4. Rab - Mon 26 Oct 2009 4:27PM GMT

Shame that it's the talentless that are selling.

5. mark - Mon 26 Oct 2009 4:37PM GMT

who cares, the greedy record companys get to much money, its about time some of them went bust

6. mark - Mon 26 Oct 2009 4:41PM GMT

so all that crap lilly alan was on about is just lies, p2p sharing is stoping stars make money, all just greed

7. Yahoo! Music User - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:00PM GMT

in the 70s and 80s the music industry complained of the blank tapes and wanted a tax to pay for the illigal copying. in the 21st century its now downloads. and who i ask you are one of the biggest optical drive makers in the world? sony of course. the same people that made the tape recorders. there are increasing numbers of bands that self publish. and they can get their music to a wider audience through the net. i know i am oine. and i am having more and more success because of it

8. colin - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:01PM GMT

Anybody still remember the 80s/90s when CDs were selling around £16 a pop? It was only when P2P sharing came along that the fat cats at the Record Companies started to lower prices. I have yet to see a destitute recording artist of any calibre.

9. dinizulu - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:04PM GMT

Lets have the vinyl back. It was great to save up your hard earned pocket money and splash out on the hottest album available. That way we all knew which was the album shifting more units than the rest. Dont want to know about downloads, and how to pay for one I'm too old for that.Missing the good old days!

10. mike j - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:06PM GMT

There is alot of talented artists/bands out there! its just the crappy acts that get all the glory are not getting fat enough on greed!! stuff like the X-factor has killed off the proper music artist in todays music and replaced it with the 2 sec off the street twit who needs a music compnay to slap a tune together for them!! and sex up an image to help sell!! Miss Cole for example :) can't sing but gets a number 1??? mainstream music is being killed by greedy companys and pretty people with no talent!!! LONG LIVE THE ACTS THAT MAKE MUSIC NO MATTER WHAT!!! you dont need a number 1 to prove your good!! live music is where its at!!! not TV!!!

11. Adam - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:07PM GMT

yay get in there lady gaga :) 2 top songs this year :):)

12. Laura - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:09PM GMT

Sex on fire contributed ALOT as well :)

13. Shakey Dave - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:17PM GMT

The article says "testimony to the quality of releases this year" yet it is followed by videos from Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas.

Methinks someone at Yahoo is taking the Michael...

14. KEITH - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:26PM GMT

good songs =P =]

15. Marc - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:34PM GMT

how come Simon Cowell managed to predict that Cheryl Cole would be number 1 - before anyone bought her album? hmmm...

16. Yahoo! Music User - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:38PM GMT

please! somebody, take me back to 1980!!!!!!! this is SO depressing :(((((((((((((((((

17. wontstand4it - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:40PM GMT

depressing for music tho...i dream of havin my first album on VINYL with beautiful artwork and all lyrics and credits on the inside sleeve, its part of the magic..well, at least it WAS part of the magic when i used to buy singles and E.Ps back in the 80s and 90s :( better sound quality too. sigh everythin is about CONVENIENCE now..

18. Yahoo! Music User - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:45PM GMT

"there are still more than a billion illegal downloads every year in the UK"

How the hell do they know that? do they knock on the door of everybody in the Uk?

Door to door census - "excuse me Sir/Madam , do you illegally download music?"

Resident - "Why yes I do!"

Door to door census - "Thats great!, thanks very much!"

=/

19. BRYAN - Mon 26 Oct 2009 5:49PM GMT

Well, what a surprise! If I COULD buy physical 7" and 12" vinyl singles and CDs ON THE HIGHSTREET, I would! Instead, what must arguably be the UK's largest highstreet retailer, HMV, abandoned sales of vinyl singles over a year ago and CD singles are few and far between. So now it's nigh on impossible to buy singles in the physical format unless you buy online. HMV still sell singles (both CD and vinyl) online, but will record companies continue to produce physical format singles if the sales are so poor? Because for the casual highstreet browser, singles simply disappeared from the shelves and I would guess that most people will not buy the physical formats online as downloading the digital version is cheaper and more 'instant'. Perhaps that's why record companies have reverted to producing coloured vinyl and picture discs, to tempt purchases of the physical format? I doubt that ploy will work for long if these formats are so hard to track down and buy!!

	a-CMU-blog by Chris Cooke	396
	Chart Watch UK by James Masterton	127
	Down The Front by Reviews Editor	49
	Recommenders by Reviews Editor	41
	Snap, Crackle and Pop by Dave Rumour	194
	The Guestlist by Mitch Carter	88
	This Day In Music by Neil Cossar	336
	Touching The Void by Johnny Famethrowa	227
	Video Premieres by The Editor	43

Yahoo! Services

Account Options

Yahoo! Search

Music Blogs

UK Charts Go Pop

Yahoo! Music Blogs

Music Blog Archives

Most Comments

SuBo covers Stones

Fight For This Song

Jackson Jive "Racist" Outrage

Is This Pop’s Funeral?

Cheryl Cole’s Solo Bow

Stop Crying Leona

Cheryl Cole: Record-Breaker

Britney Goes Down Under

SuBo Unveils Her “Dream”

Is Beyonce Satanic?

Recent News Stories

Jedward eye future

U2 headline Glastonbury

Lambert defends raunchy AMAs performance