U.k. Acts At Home With Pop

Despite a declining share, pop repertoire continued to dominate the U.K. record market in 2000, according to new analysis from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

During 2000, pop repertoire claimed 32.4% of sales in the U.K.—Europe's largest music market—boosted by strong performances from teen acts Westlife, Steps, Britney Spears, and S Club 7. That figure was down from 36.2% in 1999. Rock-album sales rose from 22.4% to a four-year high of 25.9%, thanks in large part to the Beatles' all-conquering 1 (Apple/EMI).

Pop's share of the declining singles market fell in 2000, from 43.9% to 39.7%. According to the BPI, that was "mainly attributable to falling share within the 'teen' market."

Dance was the second-most-popular singles genre, at 27%. That marked the genre's highest market share since 1994. BPI research, based on data from the Chart Information Network, shows that Sonique (Serious/Universal) was the top-selling dance-singles artist. Her "Feel So Good" shipped more than 600,000 units during a year in which the genre delivered more than 32 singles that sold 100,000-plus copies each.

The figures were published in the BPI Statistical Handbook 2001, issued to BPI member companies July 25 at the labels body's annual general meeting in Croydon, south London.

A new feature in this year's edition is repertoire origin analysis, which shows that acts originally signed in the U.K. accounted for 57.4% of the 216 million units shipped in the U.K.'s 1.05 billion-pound ($1.49 billion) album market in 2000. But when judged by the acts' country of origin—rather than where they were signed—that figure drops to 47.6%. U.S. artists also enjoyed their strongest showing in the U.K. albums market since 1994, with a 36% share.

Overall, Universal was the top albums and singles company in the U.K. during 2000, with 23.9% and 20.5% market share respectively; Sony's Columbia imprint was the top label in both formats.