British pop stars need to sharpen up their act after being frozen out of the singles chart by a new wave of boundary-pushing, TikTok-friendly US stars, insiders have said.
For the first time since records began in 1970, none of the year’s top 10 best-selling songs was by an artist from the UK, BPI figures revealed.
UK artists were behind just nine of the 40 top tracks of 2024 across streaming and sales, with the highest being Stargazing by Myles Smith at number 12.
When a Stormzy & Chase & Status collaboration topped the chart last August, it was the first all-British number one single for 32 weeks.
It is a far cry from the early 80s when bands like Wham!, Culture Club and The Police dominated the UK and the US charts – 29 of the Top 40 best-selling songs of 1983 were by British artists.
However even just five years ago, 19 of the year’s 40 biggest singles of 2019 were by UK performers.
Whilst Taylor Swift scored the year’s best-seller with her Tortured Poets Department album, British talent is also being squeezed by a new generation of US singers following in her wake.
Billie Eilish, Oliva Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Gracie Abrams forced the likes of Dua Lipa and multiple Brit-award winner Raye out of the year’s top-selling singles and albums lists, the BPI figures showed.
Sabrina Carpenter was the breakout star of 2024 with hits including “Espresso” (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty)The dominance of streaming over physical sales is one factor inhibiting UK success. British artists are now competing with performers from all over the world to get a coveted spot on Spotify’s algorithm-influenced global playlists.
But the flamboyant style and sound of US artists who are challenging gender stereotypes and traditional musical boundaries are proving more appealing to teenage fans than their UK counterparts.
One music manager, who didn’t want to be named, said: “Frankly they are making our Brit-school-trained singers look a little dull.
“Chappell Roan has created her own outrageous drag queen ‘Midwest princess’ persona. Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish are slipping explicit lyrics about female desire into the pop mainstream.
“Olivia Rodrigo has a rebellious punk edge. Who these singers are dating dominates social media and songs like Sabrina’s ‘Espresso’ are perfect material for fans to create TikTok memes.”
The manager added: “A lot of British singers have been developed in the shadow of Adele and Ed Sheeran. There are some very talented UK performers but the pop world moves on and their stagecraft can look a little staid. The one who has grasped it is Charli XCX.”
A bright spot in the BPI figures, Charli XCX’s Brat album became a summer phenomenon, topping the charts and finishing ahead of Rodrigo in the year-end UK albums top ten.
The biggest-selling song by a Brit was Myles Smith’s folk-pop stomper “Stargazing”, which camein at no 12 (Photo by Griffin Lotz/Rolling Stone via Getty Images)Inspired by the hedonistic excesses of rave culture and “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometime”, Brat was 32 year-old Charlotte Aitchison’s sixth album and followed her rejection of attempts by record companies to mould her into a more conventional pop star.
Dr Jo Twist, BPI chief executive, told The i Paper: “It’s fair to say there have been stronger years for British artists, who, in part due to the levelling effect of streaming globally, now face significant competition.
“Clearly American pop stars led by Taylor Swift are enjoying a real moment of ascendancy right now,” added Dr Twist, who warned that the growing markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America meant it was “undoubtedly becoming much harder” for British musicians to cut through in a “hyper-competitive global music economy”.
However UK talent, ranging from Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay to The Last Dinner Party, Beabadoobee, and rising star Myles Smith, have still had “brilliant years,” Dr Twist said.
The industry hopes that Harry Styles, Robbie Williams and Adele will ride to the rescue in 2025. “Music is cyclical” and “some of our major artists have not been active and can be expected to return in 2025 with new material,” Dr Twist said.
“So I think we can be optimistic and look upon it as a blip for now, but without becoming complacent.”
The year’s top two most-streamed tracks, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season and Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things, offer a further challenge to British artists.
Both are acoustic, narrative-led songs with “rootsy” vocals that went viral after inspiring myriad cover versions on YouTube and TikTok.
Country music, which now encompasses Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album and Lil Nas X, the “country-trap” rapper who celebrates “queer black sexuality”, recorded a 70 per cent UK streaming rise in 2024. Yet it’s a genre whose look and sound places British acts at a disadvantage.
US star Chappell Roan, who is heavily inspired by drag artists, was one the biggest-selling acts and will headline Reading and Leeds Festival this summer (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty)Record companies have invested £2bn in discovering new UK talent since 2018, the BPI said.
The organisation, which represents the UK’s labels, said Britain was at a disadvantage compared to the rising pop powers of South Korea and Latin America, where governments offer tax incentives to businesses investing in new music.
The BPI also raised concerns over proposed changes to UK copyright law which it claimed “would allow international tech giants to train AI models on artists’ work without payment or permission”.
“The UK remains a world music power, but this status cannot be taken for granted,” said Dr Twist.
“We need a supportive policy environment that puts the focus on human artistry and enables continued investment in the next generation of British talent.”
Hundreds of live music venues have closed across the UK since the start of the pandemic, with industry insiders warning fledgling artists are missing the chance to hone their craft and be discovered by new fans and talent scouts.
Figures the Music Venues Trusts show artists played an average 11 shows on an average grassroots tour in 2024, compared to 22 dates in 1994, with many smaller towns and cities becoming “cultural deserts” with no dedicated live music venues.
The UK albums chart provided some hope in 2024, presenting a different picture to the end-of-year single tracks list.
Veteran indie and guitar-led bands have become skillful in galvanising their fanbase to buy vinyl and CD copies of new records in the first week of release, boosting their chart position.
British rock bands The Libertines, The Cure, Elbow, Idles, Shed Seven (on two occasions) as well as Liam Gallagher and David Gilmour scored number one albums. With Oasis set to embark on a much-anticipated reunion tour this summer, nostalgia for the ‘Cool Britannia’ of the 1990s could yet prove key to a UK comeback in 2025.
Official singles chart 2024
Noah Kahan – Stick Season Benson Boone – Beautiful Things Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso Teddy Swims – Lose Control Hozier – Too Sweet Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy) Billie Eilish – Birds Of A Feather Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! Dasha – Austin Sabrina Carpenter – Please Please Please© Official Charts Company/BPI Read More Details
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