The UK saw over 210 billion annual streams of audio music tracks in 2025 – but year-on-year growth significantly decelerated.
That’s according to new annual data from recorded music trade group BPI, showing the volume of music consumption in the UK last year.
The BPI’s report on UK music consumption shows music streaming crossed the 200 billion-stream mark for the first time in 2025, growing 5.5% year-over-year to 210.3 billion streams.
In numerical terms, that represented YoY volume growth of 10.7 billion streams vs. the 199.6 billion streams seen in 2024.
For comparison: 2024’s audio stream volume (199.6B) was up 11.0% YoY in percentage terms (vs. 2023), and up by 20.0 billion YoY in terms of annual stream volume growth (see below).
Streaming accounted for a record 89.3% of music consumption in the UK, according to the BPI – which bases that calculation on its own formula for ‘Album Equivalent Sales’, which in turn is broadly in line with trade value.
The BPI measures one album ‘equivalent’ sale as 1,000 track streams through a premium (paid) service, or 6,000 streams from a free (ad-supported) tier. The body also counts 10 sales/downloads of individual tracks from a single LP as one album ‘equivalent’.
Under this formula,
Physical music sales rose 1.4%, with sales of vinyl growing 13.3% YoY to 7.6 million, marking their 18th consecutive year of growth. CD sales fell 7.6% to 9.7 million.
“We have been watching this consistent growth in demand for vinyl for a long time,” said Neil Gibbons, COO of Key Production Group, the UK’s largest physical music manufacturing agency.
“The core audience has shifted even beyond Gen Z now as fans build deeper connections with artists by listening to whole albums and collecting multiple formats.”
And the success of vinyl isn’t limited to catalog sales; six of the 10 biggest-selling vinyls during the years were released in the previous two years, including the top-selling vinyl album in the UK in 2025, Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, which sold more than 147,000 units, the most vinyl albums sold in data going back to 1994.
BPI’s data measured the 52 weeks ending on December 25, 2025. The trade group is planning to release recorded music sales numbers for 2025 in Q1 or Q2 of this year.
While consumption hit new all-time records in 2025, the rate of growth was slower than in previous years. This year’s growth in overall consumption was little more than half the 9.7% YoY growth rate seen in 2024. Streaming growth also slowed from the 11% YoY growth seen in 2024 and 12.8% YoY growth in 2023.
“From Olivia Dean and Lola Young to Sleep Token and Sam Fender, new British talent are now chart-topping sensations at home and are making their presence felt in key markets around the world.”
Dr. Jo Twist OBE, BPI
The BPI says the UK saw a “surging” recorded music industry in 2025, propelled by both domestic and international sales and driven in particular by breakthrough female acts. The BPI singled out Brit School alumnus Lola Young, who had 2025’s second-biggest UK single with Messy, and Olivia Dean, who became the first female in UK chart history to achieve a No. 1 album and single in the same week.
It was overall “another exceptional year for women,” the BPI said, with Taylor Swift setting a new UK album record by becoming the first artist in nearly 50 years to have the biggest album in two consecutive years with different releases (2024’s The Tortured Poets Department and 2025’s The Life of a Showgirl). Swift also became the first artist to debut simultaneously in the top three positions on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, with The Fate Of Ophelia, Opalite and Elizabeth Taylor, in that order.
The BPI also gave shout-outs to Skye Newman (the first British female artist in over a decade to have both of her first two singles place in the Top 20 singles charts), PinkPantheress (shortlisted for a 2025 Mercury Prize for mixtape Fancy That), as well as Chappell Roan, Gracie Abrams, and Huntr/X, the fictional girl group from Kpop Demon Hunters.
“2025 saw UK talent break through domestically and globally, an impressive feat given more acts than ever are vying for audience attention,” BPI Chief Executive Dr. Jo Twist OBE said in a statement.
“From Olivia Dean and Lola Young to Sleep Token and Sam Fender, new British talent are now chart-topping sensations at home and are making their presence felt in key markets around the world, while the likes of Ed Sheeran continue to reinforce their icon status.”
She added: “This is testament to the diverse, exceptional talent that exists throughout the UK, and to the vital role labels play in supporting artists to long-term success. This impact should be a powerful reminder that British music is a global headline act, and one of the crown jewels of the UK’s creative industries.”
The BPI’s boosting of the British music industry comes at a time when the UK and other English-language music markets are seeing their share of global music streaming shrink amid a boom in the popularity of regional and local music. Music from the US, UK and Canada accounted for 56.2% of global streams in 2024, down from 57.5% in 2023, continuing a long, slow decline.
Ensuring the UK music industry’s continued success “should be high on the government’s agenda in 2026,” Twist said. “We need the commitment of policy makers, the continued protection of the UK’s gold-standard copyright framework, and a business environment which supports direct licensing between music and tech companies in order for labels to continue to discover, nurture and promote the global stars of tomorrow.”Music Business Worldwide
