Miley & Other Women Artists Reigned U.K. Music Charts in 2023

In a historic turn of events, 2023 has been declared the year of the woman in the United Kingdom music business. BPI, the U.K. recorded music industry trade association, conducted a detailed review of Official Charts data and discovered that female musicians set an unprecedented record by spending the most weeks at No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart in a calendar year since the chart's debut in 1952.

Miley Cyrus led the charge with her astonishing 10-week chart-topper, "Flowers," which amassed a remarkable 198 million streams, making it the year's greatest hit. Women dominated the charts all year, spending a total of 31 weeks at the top, their longest reign since 1952.

SZA and Taylor Swift, as well as foreign artists like Libianca and the UK's own Ellie Goulding, PinkPantheress, and RAYE, made notable contributions. Women accounted for four of the top five tracks and seven of the top ten in 2023.

Furthermore, 48.5% of singles reaching the weekly Official Singles Chart's Top 10 were by female performers, either solo or in collaboration. The Weeknd's "The Highlights" took the #1 album place, closely followed by Taylor Swift's "Midnights" and "1989 (Taylor's Version)."

Female musicians' influence stretched beyond the charts, with the "Barbie" album soundtrack emerging as the year's top compilation, with singles by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj, and Ice Spice ft Aqua.

In a larger context, recorded music consumption in the United Kingdom increased by 10% to 182.8 million albums, marking the ninth consecutive yearly increase. Audio streaming surpassed 179.6 billion streams, nearly twice the figure from 2018. Vinyl LP sales increased the most this decade, hitting 6.1 million copies. Even the drop in CD sales has halted, and an unexpected revival has resulted in the acquisition of 100,000 cassettes.

BPI Chief Executive Jo Twist expressed hope but stressed the continued struggle to attain full representation for women in the music business, stating that 2023's extraordinary accomplishments should be recognized without complacency.