Digital Boost For Compilations

Sales of compilation albums rose by 7.2 percent in 2012, with the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series recording its best result for more than a decade.

The various “Now” albums racked up sales of 2.7 million as one in every five albums sold (21 percent) was a compilation.

Digital downloads grabbed a bigger slice of compilation sales in 2012 – almost a quarter (23.5 percent) were bought online compared to 16.3 percent in 2011.

“Despite the availability of tracks as individual downloads, compilations – led by the ‘Now’ series – are confounding expectations and performing better than ever,” BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said.

“Not only are music fans getting superb value from double and triple album titles brimming with hits, but a string of newly-themed albums have established themselves over the last year”.