Pop overtakes rock to become top-selling genre of 2014

Pop accounts for majority of music sales in 2014, and country makes a comeback thanks to Dolly Parton.
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2014 was a big year for pop, and according to British music industry trade body, The BPI, pop has nudged rock out of the way to be crowned the dominant genre in UK music sales.

The figures, based on Official Charts Company data, show that high-profile successes from Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Paloma Faith gave pop its biggest market share of album sales – 34.5% – since 1999.

Over in Compilations, pop took an even bigger slice of the pie, with 48.8% of the market.

This week's Official Compilations Chart

It was also the sixth year in a row pop dominated the singles market – with a market share of 36%.

Thanks to monster hits from Calvin Harris, Clean Bandit and Avicii, dance music claimed its biggest share in the singles market for almost a decade, reaping 16.2% of sales.

View the latest Official Dance Chart

It looks like Dolly Parton’s much talked-about set at Glastonbury is responsible for country music making a comeback in the UK. The star scored her third Top 10 album in 2014 with Blue Smoke – The Best Of. As a genre, country increased its share of the albums market to 2.3%

And it looks like even more success for the genre is on its way – OfficialCharts.com recently revealed that country band The Shires were the first British country act to score a Top 10 in the Official Albums Chart.

Check out this week's Official Country Albums Chart

It may have been nudged aside by pop, but rock is still big news in the UK. Big albums from Royal Blood, AC/DC and Kasabian helped the rock genre snare a third of all album sales. Rock also made a decent showing in the singles market, claiming its biggest share in four years.

Take a look at this week's Official Rock & Alternative Singles Chart

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