In terms of singles, electronic dance music is hugely successful at the moment. 3 out of the top 5 singles shown below are of this genre ("Prayer in C", "Won't Look Back" and "Black Widow"), as well as most of the other songs and artists shown (e.g. David Guetta).
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| UK singles chart (7/9/14) |
The number of dance music albums sold increased by 12% between 2012 and 2013, with artists such as Rudimental, Calvin Harris and Disclosure. Also, even if they aren't exclusively dance music, successful pop artists such as Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and Rihanna incorporate dance music-style beats and synth sounds. Even Coldplay, an alternative rock band, changed their style recently to fit with this genre, shown by their recent chart hit "Sky Full of Stars".
Coldplay, 2002
Coldplay, 2014
This is shown in this table, too:
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| album sales by genre in millions (US) |
Dance/electronic is the only genre listed in the table for which sales increased rather than decreased since 2008.
Chart success definitely doesn't apply solely to this kind of music, however. Indie rock/pop artists and singer-songwriters such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Bastille have recently been successful, too, reaching mainstream audiences. This might be because it provides a contrast with the electronic dance music - people want music they can listen to on their own, with headphones, and music they can think about, not just music to dance to at parties or play loudly in the car.
What sells well also seems to differ between singles and albums. While dance music dominates the singles chart, it only accounted for 8% of album sales last year - whereas rock music accounted for one third of album sales in the UK. Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Bastille and solo artists like Jake Bugg have helped to increase rock album sales.
What sells well also seems to differ between singles and albums. While dance music dominates the singles chart, it only accounted for 8% of album sales last year - whereas rock music accounted for one third of album sales in the UK. Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Bastille and solo artists like Jake Bugg have helped to increase rock album sales.
The rock and pop/rock genre takes up more than half of the album chart, shown below.
The charts right now also reflect the different audiences targeted by the music industry. Kate Bush and Dolly Parton are currently no. 9 and 11, showing that older audiences are music consumers, too.
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| UK album chart (7/9/14) |
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