Sleep Token performing live. Photo Credit: Excel23

Despite growing modestly from 2024, UK recorded music exports last year topped £800 million for the first time on record.

That’s according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which today identified £800.3 million (currently $1.07 billion) worth of recorded exports for 2025. Besides representing a 0.8% year-over-year (YoY) uptick, the figure marks a 50% improvement from closer to $709.7 million/£533 million in 2020.

(Regarding the above use of “on record,” 2020 is also when the BPI started attaching a hard number to annual exports.)

Behind the 2025 total, the US is said to have contributed “around 40%,” followed by fellow top-10 markets Germany, France, and Canada. And in terms of the artists who drove a significant portion of the UK exports growth, the BPI, citing Luminate data, indicated that 67 acts, including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Dua Lipa, had generated over one billion streams apiece on the year.

Even so, the exports stat is inherently susceptible to swings based on release volume and type. And there’s only so much room for annual increases, referring to the number of artists as well as their stream counts, in the UK’s billion-stream club.

As such, the trade organization framed the exports milestone as reflecting “[t]he breakthrough success of a new wave of UK artists,” among them “fresh UK names” like Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Yungblud, Raye, and Sleep Token.

(Recent commercial success aside, Sleep Token technically arrived on the scene with a self-released EP back in 2016.)

Moreover, year-to-date international hits mean the “momentum that began building for UK talent last year” has thus far “carried into” 2026, potentially setting the stage for another exports bump, per the entity.

On the other hand, owing to “intensifying global competition,” undertakings like the Music Export Growth Scheme remain important, according to the BPI, which is doling out sizable sums under the program.

Addressing the 2025 exports figure, BPI head Jo Twist touted the total and reiterated “the need for continued international trade and export initiatives.”

“What was notable about last year’s record-breaking recorded music export figures was not just the contribution of a new generation of UK stars, but also the long journey they often had to undertake to build and connect with audiences. It is harder than ever to break an artist internationally, and it now takes longer for the mainstream to embrace new artists,” said Twist.

“While these figures are impressive, the slowing rate of growth highlights the need for continued international trade and export initiatives like the Music Export Growth Scheme, and for a supportive business environment in the UK to enable label businesses to continue to invest in British talent,” the BPI CEO concluded.

Across the board, the BPI previously pointed to a roughly 5% YoY recorded revenue boost, to £1.57 billion/$2.09 billion, for the UK during 2025. And earlier this month, UK Music placed music tourists’ cumulative (domestic) 2025 spending at £11.2 billion/$12.7 billion, up 11.3% YoY.