SHEERAN SLOWS CD SALES DECLINE

The CD market in the U.K. is proving resilient, according to stats suggesting the format has declined by just 0.5% year-on-year this last quarter. That’s a significant improvement compared to the same period in 2016, which saw an 11.7% decrease.

The key? Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Atlantic), which has accounted for 10% of CD sales in Blighty since being released in March.

A quarter of those buying Sheeran’s offering are said to have not bought a CD in the previous 12 months, with the release bringing 250k buyers back to the physical entertainment market. When it comes to streaming, 13% of the U.K. population is now paying for a subscription service—up from 9% this time last year.

As a result of Sheeran’s performance, retailer HMV saw its market share increase by 0.8%, with 29% of spending done by those who entered the store to browse during the past quarter—up from 20% last year. Amazon was the biggest entertainment retailer in the U.K., taking its highest market share of 2017 so far despite year-on-year share decline.

According to stats from Kantar Worldpanel, the overall physical entertainment market saw a fall in sales of 12.1% in Q2, parting company with 1.3m shoppers. The video market is down 13%, the games sector is off 20%.

In 2016, CD sales were down 11.7%, and, combined with vinyl LP, CD and physical formats, account for 41% of U.K. music consumption in terms of volume, according to numbers come from trade body BPI and the Official Charts Co.