THE much-anticipated SPICE GIRLS reunion may still not have come to fruition yet, but Girl Power has never been stronger.
For the first time in Official Charts history, over the past 12 months women spent a total of 31 weeks at the No1 spot.
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The feat is the longest chart-topping spell in a calendar year since records began in 1952.
Unsurprisingly, US superstars Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus are partly to credit thanks to their mega hits Anti-Hero and Flowers.
Released in January last year, Miley’s break-up power anthem, about her divorce from actor Liam Hemsworth, spent a huge ten weeks at No1. Meanwhile, Tay’s single Anti-Hero spent six consecutive weeks at the top, becoming her longest-running hit to do so.
But the incredible 2023 feat wasn’t just the work of female artists from across the Pond.
Home-grown talent included Dua Lipa, who bagged her fourth No1 with Dance The Night, from the Barbie movie.
And Ellie Goulding’s third collaboration with Calvin Harris, Miracle, dominated the charts for eight weeks to become her longest-running No1.
Brit singer-songwriters Kenya Grace and Raye also enjoyed No1 singles with Strangers and Escapism, ft 070 Shake, respectively.
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) — which represents UK record labels — we can’t get enough of great music here in Blighty.
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Its annual report is music to Bizarre’s ears as total music consumption in the UK rose by a tenth.
Since 2018 streaming has doubled to a whopping 179.6billion streams.
Online songs now account for 87.7 per cent of the market, compared to 63.6 per cent in 2018.
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Meanwhile, old-school vinyl continues to make a strong return.
Sales were up 11.8 per cent year on year to 6.1million units — with Taylor’s re-recording of her 2014 album 1989 becoming the best-selling vinyl of the year.
Her tenth album Midnights and her re-recording of her 2010 album Speak Now also made the end-of-year Top Ten.
In another nod to years gone by, 100,000 cassettes were purchased, helped in part by artists like Kylie Minogue who turned to limited-edition tapes to help boost sales.
The year ahead looks set to be more of the same, with a string of female stars set to drop albums.
Riding high on the success of comeback single Houdini, Dua will release her third album — her first since 2020’s Future Nostalgia.
Ariana Grande is also making a comeback by releasing her first record since 2020’s Positions.
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Beyonce said it best in 2011 when she sang: “Who runs the world? Girls.”
And we’re pleased to see that more than a decade on, that is still the case.
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