The Belgium music market grew 6.5% in the first half of 2016 thanks to an 80% rise in income from streaming.
Revenue earned from recorded music reached €52.93m in the first half of 2016, up from €49.69m during the same period last year.
From 2005 to 2013, the Belgium music market declined 29%. However, the country has seen more positive results in recent years.
Trade association BEA attributes recent growth to the arrival of Apple Music and its premium-only tier.
Streaming earned €17.9m from January – June, up from €9.8m in 2015 and counting for 34% of sales.
CD is still the strongest format, representing 45% of the market with €23.83m.
However, that’s down 13% on last year’s €27.39m.
Downloads are also down 17.5%, now accounting for 15% of the market with €7.94m.
Vinyl is up 28.4% at €2.43m from €1.89, and music related physical video products (DVDs, blu-ray, VHS) count for 1%, down 14% at €0.82m from €0.95m last year.
Overall, physical formats take 51% of the market.
“Premium streaming [has] now [started to advance] our country’s [music market] and will eventually be larger than CD sales.”
olivier maeterlinck, bea
“Premium streaming [has] now [started to advance] our country’s [music market] and will eventually be larger than CD sales,” said Olivier Maeterlinck, director of BEA.
“On the other hand, the album in CD format will continue to do well, as will vinyl, especially given the new music releases in the autumn.”
Belgian girl band K3’s 10,000 Balloons, released via [PIAS], topped the list of best selling albums in Belgium in H1 2016.
It was followed by Adele’s 25, David Bowie’s Blackstar, Clouseau’s Clouseau Dancing and Stan Samang’s Love For Public.
Lukas Graham’s hit 7 Years was No.1 on Belgium’s best selling singles list, followed by Alan Walker’s Faded, Mike Posner’s I Took A Pill In Ibiza, Dua Lipa’s Be The One and Twenty One Pilot’s Stressed Out.
Check out the full lists, sourced from EB, below.
Album:
- K3 – 10,000 Balloons PIAS
- Adele – 25 V2
- David Bowie – Blackstar Sony Music
- Clouseau – Clouseau Dancing Warner Music
- Stan Samang – Love For Public CNR
- Tourist Lemc – En Route Universal Music
- Dana Winner – Pure Universal Music
- Beyonce – Lemonade Sony Music
- Various – Love For Music Universal Music
- Oscar and the Wolf – Entity Pias
Tracks:
- Lukas Graham – 7 Years Warner Music
- Alan Walker – Faded Sony Music
- Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza Universal Music
- Dua Lipa – Be The One Warner Music
- Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out Warner Music
- Justin Bieber – Love Yourself Universal Music
- Jonas Blue feat. Dakota – Fast Car Universal Music
- Major Lazer feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG – Light It Up Warner Music
- Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla – One Dance Universal Music
- Sia feat. Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills Sony Music
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