Taylor Swift dominated the UK music charts in 2025, as her latest release became the year’s best-selling album and women accounted for the majority of chart success, according to new industry figures.
Swift Tops Albums As Sales Reach New High
Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, was the biggest-selling album of the year, moving 642,000 copies since its release in October. The figures were published by the British Phonographic Industry, which reported that combined album sales and streams rose by nearly 5% to 201 million units in 2025.
Streaming accounted for 89% of total music consumption, the BPI said.
Women Dominate Charts And Break Records
Female artists led the charts throughout the year. Breakout British performers Olivia Dean and Lola Young were among the strongest performers, contributing to what the BPI described as a record-breaking year for the industry.
Dean became the first woman in UK chart history to secure her first number one album (The Art Of Loving) and first number one single (Man I Need) in the same week. She also achieved four simultaneous top 10 hits during the year and is set to appear on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny.
Young delivered the year’s second biggest single with Messy. Across the singles chart, female artists accounted for two-thirds of all number one hits in 2025.
Oasis Resurgence Boosted By Reunion Tour
A major resurgence for Oasis followed the band’s reunion tour, which helped drive more than one million album sales during the year. Their greatest hits collection Time Flies ranked as the fourth biggest album of 2025, while (What’s The Story) Morning Glory placed seventh.
Streaming Grows As Older Songs Dominate
Fans streamed 210.3 billion tracks over the year. The most-played song of 2025 was Ordinary by US singer Alex Warren.
Despite high overall engagement, new releases struggled to break through at the top end of the charts. Six of the ten best-selling tracks were originally released in 2024, while Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan, first released in 2020, also featured prominently.
Vinyl And Physical Formats Continue To Rise
Vinyl sales increased for the 18th consecutive year, rising 13% year-on-year to 7.6 million units. The Life of a Showgirl led vinyl sales, and Swift also placed another album in the Top 10 with Lover (Live From Paris), a limited release available for 72 hours on her website.
According to the Official Charts Company, the album sold 47,000 copies during that window and became the first album in eight years to reach number one based solely on sales, without streams.
Vinyl sales have doubled over the past decade and are approaching CD volumes. In 2025, CDs sold 9.7 million units, compared with 47.3 million a decade earlier. Cassette sales also rose by 53.8% to 164,491 units, led by the soundtrack to Better Man.
UK Artists Gain Ground Overseas
The BPI said a new wave of British artists achieved international success in 2025. Dean and Young both entered the US Billboard charts and received nominations for best new artist at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Rock acts including Yungblud, Sleep Token, Wolf Alice, and Florence + The Machine gained traction abroad. Ed Sheeran became the first overseas artist to top India’s Spotify chart since 2021 with his single Sapphire.
Dr Jo Twist, chief executive of the BPI, said the UK remained the world’s second-largest exporter of music, while noting that global competition for listener attention continues to intensify.
Featured image credits: Pexels
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