Record low for singles as manufactured pop loses its appeal

Sales of singles have fallen to their lowest level for at least 26 years as music buyers become disenchanted with manufactured pop, a music industry report showed yesterday.

Figures from the British Phonographic Industry revealed the worst third-quarter sales since 1976, when statistics were first compiled.

The decline was underlined by the fact that singles sales in the 12 months to September were worth less than £100m for the first time since 1994. The singles market was worth only £99.4m, a drop of 13.7 per cent on the previous year.

The poor figures come as quarterly sales are dominated by Pop Idol acts. Gareth Gates and Darius had two of the top three biggest sellers for the three months, for "Anyone Of Us" and "Colourblind".

Last week a poll to find the greatest hits since the charts began showed a lack of support for modern music. Just four of the 100 favourite number ones were from the past decade.

Singles made up only 9.3 per cent of total music sales revenue in July to September this year. It is the first time singles sales have fallen below 10 per cent for any three-month period other than the final quarter of the year. In October to December the market is dominated by album sales in the run-up to Christmas.

The BPI says singles – in 7in, 12in, cassette and CD formats – are worth only 8.2 per cent of annual music industry revenue. But album sales were up slightly and big sales with high-profile releases are forecast for the end of this year.

Third-quarter long-player sales were up by 5 per cent on the 2001 equivalent thanks to releases by Coldplay and Oasis. For the year to September, sales were up 0.3 per cent.

Robbie Williams, David Gray and Craig David are among the acts with new albums that will boost revenue for the festive period, which usually accounts for 40 per cent of annual album sales.

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Peter Jamieson, BPI executive chairman, said: "The growth in album sales was encouraging and proves that a strong British artist release schedule will boost sales.''