According to figures published by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) at the beginning of this week for Second Quarter trade deliveries the UK market achieved an all-time high in album shipments: The reported volume of sales for this period grew by 12% to reach an annual high of 228m units. The figures mark the fifth consecutive year that album sales have topped 200m. However this increasing volume of sales is not translating into profits for the industry: Factors such as a steep rise in discounting as high street retailers engage in fierce competition (CD albums, with an average retail price of £9.79, have never been cheaper in the UK) further undermined by a disappearing singles market ,resulted in actual profits from albums, the healthiest sector of the recorded music industry, ending up down over the year by 2%. Singles continued to decline with annual sales of 41m units. Overall the market value remained stable with a minimal increase of 0.1%.

A BPI spokesman was reported in an article in The Guardian as saying, "It is clear that cheap retail prices on offer to the consumer combined with strong new release titles are sustaining the UK album market at a high level." But it appears that the group is preparing for gloomy news on the music market overall. Takings from sales of all recorded products by the end of the year are forecast to be 7% down.

Albums that figured hugely in the increase included the massively successful Now! compilation series which provided the bestseller of the quarter (Now! 54), other quarter 2 releases which featured in the Top 10 best-selling list included White Stripes' 'Elephant', Justin Timberlake's 'Justified', and the fourth studio album from Welsh rockers Stereophonics' 'You Gotta Go There To Come Back'. New albums from Dido and Sting, as well as current bestsellers The Darkness and Kings of Leon, are expected to provide good prospects for the third quarter.