U.K. Acts Boost U.S. Profile

Industry figures suggest U.K. acts are steadily increasing their U.S. market share and are now responsible for one of every 12 album sales.

It’s classic acts including The Beatles, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Pink Floyd (and David Gilmour solo) and Def Leppard that have contributed the most sales. But the British Phonographic Industry, which compiled the figures from an analysis of the 3,000 top-selling albums of 2006, believes new acts are also getting a foothold.

James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol, and Corrine Bailey Rae all had albums in the BPI’s Top 20 British best-sellers list, while Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Joss Stone, and James Morrison have all made an impact on the U.S. charts in the first quarter of 2007.

Although the U.S. market has experienced overall decline in recent years, falling by 12 percent since 2004, this is the second year in succession that U.K. talent has increased its share of it.