Classical music on track for success
The number of plays of classical music increased by more than 10 per cent in 2018, with the genre growing faster than the UK music industry at large.
Overall, there was a rise of only 5.7 per cent in music consumption over the last year, according to the BPI record labels association.
In the same period, more than 2.2million classical albums were purchased, downloaded or streamed.
Nearly 60 per cent of classical music was bought in CD format, despite the wider market ’ s t rend towards streaming.
Streams of classical music increased by 42 per cent in 2018, compared to a 33 per cent rise for the UK music market as a whole.
Downloads were the only format where demand for classical music fell, with digital albums declining by 13.4 per cent.
But, compared to the wider market, the figure is favourable, with downloads across the market dropping by 26 per cent.
The data also shows that seven of the top 30 bestselling classical albums in 2018 were film soundtracks by composers such as John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
Music by Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi accounted for one in 12 UK classical st reams. Also h ighly streamed were Katherine Jenkins and Andrea Bocelli.
Ginny Cooper, of BPI, said: “These figures reflect a very good year for classical music, underscoring a healthy rise in demand for the genre across key formats.”