Flowing Back To Rock

In 2013, albums from Bastille, Rod Stewart, and Arctic Monkeys made rock the bestselling genre for albums.

For the previous two years, pop music was the top genre.

Even last year the five bestselling albums – Emeli Sandé, One Direction, and three “Now” compilations – were all pop.

“While the appeal of pop remains consistent, the popularity of rock music tends to ebb and flow a little more, reflecting as it does the excitement that can quickly build around new acts as they burst through,” said the BPI’s Gennaro Castaldo. “With Arctic Monkeys now taking on near-iconic status, and the likes of Jake Bugg and Bastille to name a few connecting with a new generation of fans, rock music looks set to enjoy another wonderfully vibrant period.”

Despite the top five sellers being pop records, rock had a “long tail” effect.

Forty percent of the bestselling 10,000 albums were classified as rock.

Pop is often given more of the youth-cultural spotlight, be it in talent shows like “The X Factor” and “The Voice” or in polls like the BBC’s Sound of 2014, where only one rock act was included in the longlist.

In the world of singles sales, pop is still king, with 36.2 percent of singles classed as pop versus 21.4 percent for rock.

This trend is affirmed by figures reported last year by streaming service Spotify and music discovery app Shazam, whose top 10 lists are dominated by pop and dance songs.

The BPI figures also show that 2013 was a successful year for dance albums, claiming the largest proportion of overall album sales since 2006.

Calvin Harris’s 13 Months, Rudimental’s Home and Disclosure’s Settle were among those giving the genre a sales boost.

Of course, to quote 2013’s biggest-selling single, there are blurred lines between genres that make the data less clear-cut – the pop-focused One Republic and Bastille are classed as rock, while Naughty Boy’s hugely successful “La La La” could be classed as pop or dance, but is officially R&B.