Female artists dominated the UK music market in 2025, driving a record-breaking year for sales and streaming, according to new figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Taylor Swift led the charts with her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, which became the year’s best-selling record after selling 642,000 copies since its release in October. Overall, UK music consumption rose by nearly 5% to 201 million albums sold or streamed.
British female artists played a major role in that growth. Olivia Dean and Lola Young emerged as standout stars, helping power a year in which women accounted for two-thirds of all number-one singles. Dean made chart history by becoming the first woman to land her debut number-one album and single in the same week with The Art of Loving and Man I Need.
Lola Young achieved the year’s second-biggest single with Messy, while artists such as Raye, PinkPantheress, Wet Leg, Skye Newman and Sienna Spiro all strengthened their positions at home and internationally.
There was also a major revival for Oasis, whose reunion tour boosted album sales to more than one million units in 2025. Their greatest hits collection Time Flies ranked as the fourth best-selling album of the year, while (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? placed seventh.
Streaming continued to dominate the market, accounting for 89% of music consumption. Fans streamed more than 210 billion tracks during the year, with Alex Warren’s Ordinary becoming the most-played song. However, older releases continued to perform strongly, with six of the top ten tracks originally released in 2024 or earlier.
Physical formats also saw renewed interest. Vinyl sales rose for the 18th consecutive year, increasing by 13% to 7.6 million units. Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl led vinyl sales, while a limited-edition live album became the first record in eight years to top the charts based solely on physical sales.
CD sales continued to decline but still reached 9.7 million units, while cassette sales rose by more than 50%, led by the soundtrack to Robbie Williams’ biopic Better Man.
The BPI said British artists continued to enjoy global success despite growing competition. Olivia Dean and Lola Young both broke into the US Billboard charts and received Grammy nominations, while acts including Florence + The Machine, Wolf Alice and Yungblud gained international attention.
BPI chief executive Dr Jo Twist said the UK remained the world’s second-largest exporter of music, but warned the industry faced intense competition in the streaming era.
