Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Folk music enjoys chart revival

Adam Sherwin
Tuesday 17 January 2012 01:00 GMT
Comments

Folk music is enjoying a sales boom, with Laura Marling leading a revival of the narrative song.

The genre accounted for 1.6 per cent of album sales in 2011, a 20 per cent rise on the previous year, according to the trade body the British Phonographic Industry.

Marling, who won Best Female at the Brits, was the folk best-seller. Bellowhead, who mix traditional folk with rock elements, helped propel sales, along with the Irish performer Daniel O'Donnell and the American roots singer Gillian Welch. Sales of blues music also increased last year, led by Hugh Laurie's Let Them Talk album and and Seasick Steve's You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks.

Big-selling albums by Adele, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Jessie J helped pop to overtake rock for the first time in seven years. Since 2007, rock has slumped from 37 per cent to 29 per cent of the albums market. Geoff Taylor, the BPI chief executive, said: "Pop has managed to double its share of singles sales in the space of five years and now outsells rock by two to one."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in