Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Charli XCX helped boost the UK economy by a whopping €9.04 billion in 2024.
The 30-year-old “Levitating” singer led this growth with her successful album Radical Optimism, which topped the album charts, while her world tour significantly increased export revenues.
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was another financial biggie, as 1.2 million fans attended her 15 concerts in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London.
Meanwhile, Charli XCX’s album Brat, which became a cultural phenomenon last year, also contributed to huge revenues: the industry managed to collect around €1.70 billion from downloads, streaming and physical sales of records.
As a result, 4,000 new jobs were created, bringing the number of musicians, composers, songwriters, producers and engineers working full-time in the UK to 220,000.
However, UK Music CEO Tom Kiehl warned of the risks facing the industry, including challenges from artificial intelligence. He said:
“While it is fantastic that the government now recognises music as a high-growth sub-sector, ultimately the government should be judged on the progress it makes in regulating artificial intelligence and opening up opportunities for touring in the EU. The current status quo on these two major issues is against the interests of music.”
Earlier this year, Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell called on ministers to review radical proposals to ease copyright rules to stop the exploitation of British creative talent by big tech companies using artificial intelligence.