ALBUM sales reached a record high of 237 million units in the year to the end of September, signalling that the long music industry downturn, blamed on internet piracy, may be over.

Figures released by the British Phonographic Industry yesterday revealed that physical music sales in the UK rose by 3 per cent to 51.9 million albums in the three months to September 30.

The growth lifted total sales in value terms to £1.22 billion over the year, an increase of 2.7 per cent over the same time a year ago, despite strong growth in digital downloads, which analysts had said could lead to the death of albums.

Sales of singles fell by 14 per cent to £68 million. They would have risen by 9 per cent in the final quarter of the 12-month period if internet sales were included.

The BPI said that from next year, legal downloads of songs would be included in the weekly singles charts, and added that it “could only be a matter of time” before songs downloaded as ringtones on mobile phones were also included.

Almost two thirds of all approved downloads for the 12-month period took place in the fourth quarter, the BPI said, bolstered by the popularity of services such as Napster, Sony Connect and iTunes.

About 1.75 million tracks were purchased via the internet during the September quarter, compared with 7.3 million physical singles, and the BPI said that download sales were running at up to a quarter of a million units a week.

Lucian Grainge, the chairman of Universal Music UK, said that the pick-up in demand for music reflected fresh investment in artists by record companies after a round of cost-cutting and consolidation.

In the past year there have been fresh culls, and companies have shed hundreds of artists and thousands of staff in an effort to cut costs. EMI announced 1,500 job cuts this year, while Warner Music Group has shed about 1,000 staff and 150 artists. SonyBMG plans similar cuts as part of its recent merger.

“There’s been a lot of pruning so we’ve been able to increase our investment in the making and delivery of the kind of music that people want to buy, coming from new and diverse British artists,” Mr Grainge said.

The latest industry sales reflect a bullish outlook given last week by EMI, which described a “much-improved recorded music market” during the second half of the year.

Tony Wadsworth, chief executive of EMI Recorded Music in the UK, said: “We have reached an inflection point. It is significant, and we feel that as an industry we’re on top of the emerging digital market and we are starting to build a foundation for growth.”

The value of all music sales was second-highest for a 12-month period, behind the record £1.24 billion achieved in the 12 months to January 2002, which the BPI attributed to aggressive discounting by high street retailers.

Among the bestselling albums for the year were Dido’s Life for Rent, Friday’s Child by Will Young and the Darkness’s Permission to Land. More than half the top-selling albums were by British artists, the BPI said.

The BPI said that music DVDs were driving growth, with sales soaring 52 per cent year on year during the third quarter. The format now accounts for 4 per cent of the music market, almost as big as the singles sector.

Piracy suits ‘vindicated’

BRITAIN’S music industry has vowed to maintain its hard line against internet music pirates.

Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, which is in talks to settle a dispute with 26 alleged pirates, yesterday said that data showing record sales of albums in the UK “vindicated” the use of legal action in cases of piracy.

“The renewed growth of album sales does not contradict our campaign against unauthorised file-sharing, it vindicates it,” Mr Jamieson said.

“Nor can it be signalled that problems have somehow gone away, as the market for single tracks . . . has only just begun to revive following the growth of authorised and legal downloading options.”