Album sales show the US is still in love with British rock and pop

Published on Tuesday 14 April 2009 22:03

THEY may live in different worlds musically, but the combined efforts of the likes of Coldplay, Leona Lewis and AC/DC have helped give a massive boost the British share of the US market, new figures have shown.

According to the BPI, the industry's representative body, one in ten albums bought in the US in 2008 was by a British artist, with Coldplay's Viva La Vida second in the overall chart for the year and AC/DC's Black Ice fifth.

British artists enjoyed stateside success at the Grammy awards in February, with ex-Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant picking up five for his collaboration with Alison Krauss and Coldplay taking three, including song of the year.

Coldplay sold more than five million singles in the US last year, closely followed by 2006 X-Factor champion Leona Lewis, who sold just under 4,750,000.

Lewis's single Bleeding Love was the most-downloaded single in the US last year

The figures showed the UK share of the US market rose from 8.5 per cent in 2007. BPI chairman Tony Wadsworth said: "Britain's creative industries consistently excel on the world stage – with British music chief among them.

"After the US, we are the biggest exporter of repertoire, and in the US itself the UK is the second-largest source of repertoire after US home-grown artists. The increase in our North American market share reflects the UK's enduring ability to create world-class artists."

Sam Shemtob, associate director of MusicTank, a music industry think tank, said: "Some of the biggest names in British music released records last year that you would expect to do well over there, while the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss project has proved hugely successful, so the US boost would seem to come from an intersection of these factors, rather than … the record industry marketing towards the US away from the UK."