BPI PRESS RELEASE | New Year boost for music downloads as weekly sales double year-on-year : 3:1:2008

 - Music download sales just shy of three million in Christmas Week 2007, more than doubling the tally from Christmas Week 2006.

UK record companies body the BPI has announced that download sales last week were just under the three million mark - the largest one-week sales tally recorded to date in the UK.

The figures, supplied by the Official Charts Company, show that last week's download sales grew by more than half on the previous week, when strong physical sales play a key role in deciding which artist will claim the Christmas Number One.

As digital music players are popular Christmas gifts, many consumers go online to use legal digital music services for the first time or spend download vouchers given as gifts, prompting a boost in music download sales in Christmas Week.

This surge in demand from new digital music consumers - combined with the steady growth of download sales throughout 2007 - meant that last week's 2.9m sales tally was more than double that of the corresponding week in 2006.

The BPI has also announced that total music download sales for the whole of 2007 topped 77 million, a 50% increase on 2006.

BPI Director of Communications Matt Phillips said:

"Recent years have seen a boost in download sales in the week after Christmas, but this was a larger increase than expected, and sales should continue to grow throughout 2008. The enormous choice of music and great value for money, combined with the ease and convenience of downloading, means legal digital music services are becoming increasingly popular with music fans."

- ENDS -

For further information contact the BPI Communications Department on 020 7803 1395 or press@bpi.co.uk.

- EDITORS NOTES -

The BPI (formerly British Phonographic Industry) represents the British recorded music business.

All figures, unless stated otherwise, are from The Official Charts Company.

The Official Charts Company is a joint venture between the BPI and the Entertainment Retailers' Association (ERA).

Christmas & New Year Week: Download Sales Analysis

Week 51 is the chart week leading up to the Xmas No 1.

Week 52 is the chart week that includes Christmas & New Year.

2006

Week 51 download sales - 1,331,945

Week 52 download sales - 1,470,702

Week-on-week sales uplift: 10.4%

2007

Week 51 - 1,933,389 Week 52 - 2,944,214

Week-on-week uplift: 52.3%

Week 51 Year-on-Year uplift: 45.2%

Week 52 Year-on-Year uplift: 100.2%

Total annual download sales

2006 - 52.5m 2007 - 77.6m

Year-on-Year uplift 2006-7: 47.7%

Last week's Top-10 Selling Downloads (week 52, 2007)