What is Selling Well in Current Popular Music

So far in 2014, the biggest selling singles appear to be fairly male dominated. This could imply that male artists would be biggest selling at the moment, however this could also mean that there is a gap in the market for female artists. There is also an abundance of dance tracks due to the current trending of dance music. Therefore, perhaps a dance track would appeal most successfully to the target audience.

This can be compared with the previous year where pop and rock were extremely dominate in the charts. This therefore demonstrates the speed at which trends in music can dramatically change. In addition, the number one artists of 2014, 2013 and 2012 have not been British, with Australian artist Gotye selling the most in 2012. Therefore, this could mean that there is a need for more identifiable British artists in the UK charts.

The biggest selling artist albums of 2014 are almost entirely pop and rock dominated with only the exception of Avicii and Rudimental in the top 20. This differs to the best selling singles demonstrating that perhaps a gap in the singles market would not necessarily be successful in the album charts and so the two are very different. Therefore, it is important to consider what sort of success the artist we create is intended to achieve. In addition, in 2013 rock was the biggest selling genre, taking 40 percent of sales in the album market, whereas pop had been the most successful genre in recent previous years. This therefore implies an increase in popularity of rock artists over pop, perhaps a trend with artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Jake Bugg having huge commercial success of late.