Dua Lipa — the biggest-selling female artist of 2018 — was the only woman to have an album in the UK’s top 10 of the year, it has been revealed.
According to end-of-year figures released by record labels’ association the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the star’s self-titled debut album was the ninth top-selling record of 2018, despite being released in June 2017.
Sales-wise, the most succesful album of the year was the official soundtrack to ‘The Greatest Showman’, which was released in December 2017.
In second place on the bestsellers list is George Ezra’s ‘Staying At Tamara’s’, which was actually released in 2018.
Here’s the full Top 10 of the year:
1. Motion Picture Cast Recording - ’The Greatest Showman′
2. George Ezra - ’Staying At Tamara’s′
3. Ed Sheeran - ’Divide’
4. Motion Picture Cast Recording - ’Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’
5. Drake - ’Scorpion’
6. Post Malone - ’Beerbongs and Bentleys’
7. Motion Picture Cast Recording - ’A Star Is Born’
8. Michael Buble - ’Love’
9. Dua Lipa - ’Dua Lipa’
10. Eminem - ‘Kamikaze’
The BPI said the majority of the 20 biggest-selling albums of the year were by male artists, with the likes of Drake, Post Malone, Michael Buble and Eminem among the most successful.
Including Dua Lipa, only four of the top 20 albums were released by women, with Jess Glynne’s Always ‘In Between’ at number 14, Ariana Grande’s ‘Sweetener’ at 16 and Paloma Faith’s ‘The Architect’ at 17.
Half of the top 20 albums were by British artists, including George Ezra, Ed Sheeran and Dua, as well as Take That’s Odyssey, Sir Rod Stewart’s ‘Blood Red Roses’ and Arctic Monkeys with ‘Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino’.
Dua also had the second most-streamed song of the year, ‘One Kiss’, with Calvin Harris, as well as the ninth most-streamed song, ‘IDGAF’.
In top place on the official breakdown of most-streamed songs is Drake, with ‘God’s Plan’. Here’s the full Top 10 of those:
1. Drake - ‘God’s Plan’
2. Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - ‘One Kiss’
3. George Ezra - ‘Shotgun’
4. Rudimental ft Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen - ‘These Days’
5. Keala Settle and The Greatest Showman Ensemble - ‘This Is Me’
6. Drake - ‘Nice For What’
7. Ed Sheeran - ‘Perfect’
8. George Ezra - ‘Paradise’
9. Dua Lipa - ‘IDGAF’
10. Drake - ‘In My Feelings’
The BPI found that the recording industry in the UK grew for the fourth consecutive year in terms of sales.
A total of 142.9 million albums or their equivalent were streamed, purchased on various formats or downloaded in 2018, equating to an estimated retail value of £1.33 billion and a 5.7% rise year-on-year.
Combined sales and streams of music have grown by more than a fifth in five years, the BPI said.
Streaming has also been found to account for nearly two-thirds (63.6%) of music consumption in the UK, having increased by five times in five years.
CD sales now only account for 22.4% of sales, compared with 47.5% in 2014.
The demand for vinyl has also continued to increase, with just over four million LPs being sold in 2018, a rise of 1.6% from the previous year.
Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino’ was the best-selling vinyl of the year, and was also the fastest-selling LP in more than 25 years since charts records began in 1994, having shifted 24,500 copies in the first seven days it went on sale in May.