Streaming Crosses 500 Million Weekly Landmark in U.K., Double Over Last Year July 25, 2015
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The number of weekly audio streams in the United Kingdom has crossed 500 million for the first time, new data from labels trade body BPI and Official Charts Company (OCC) have revealed.

The landmark figure was reached on the chart week ending Thursday 16 July, when U.K. consumers registered 505 million audio streams — almost double the 275 million average weekly figure of July 2014. In the first six months of 2015, British music fans clocked up 11.5 billion streams, an 80 percent increase on the same period in 2014, with 59 tracks streamed more than 10 million times.

The most-streamed song was “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars, which was played more than 45 million times. Meanwhile, the title of most streamed artist in the U.K. went to Ed Sheeran, whose relatively small catalogue was streamed over 170 million times between January and June, beating Sam Smith, who also broke the 100 million streams mark, into second.

According to BPI estimates, if the same rate of adoption continues for the remainder of 2015, music streams in the U.K. will exceed 25 billion by year end. At present, YouTube and video streams are not included in Official Charts Company data, although if it was, the annual streaming total across all platforms would likely cross 50 billion streams in 2015.

“As more consumers explore the enhanced experience offered by premium quality subscriptions such as Apple Music and Spotify Premium, it will help our world-leading record labels invest even more into unearthing the next generation of British talent for fans here and around the world,” commented Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI and BRIT Awards, in a statement.

Top 10 most streamed songs in the U.K., Jan. through Jun., 2015

  1. Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk” (Columbia/Sony Music)
  2. Omi, “Cheerleader” Felix Jaehn Remix, (Syco/Sony Music)
  3. Hozier, “Take Me To The Church” (Island/Universal Music)
  4. Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud” (Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music)
  5. Ellie Goulding, “Love Me Like You Do” (Polydor/Universal Music)
  6. Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth, “See You Again” (Atlantic Records UK/Warner Music)
  7. James Bay, “Hold Back The River” (Virgin EMI/Universal Music)
  8. Maroon 5, “Sugar” (Polydor/Universal Music)
  9. Years & Years, “King” (Polydor/Universal Music)
  10. Major Lazer ft. Mo & DJ Snake, “Lean On” (Because Music)

[Billboard]