Music is greatest source of national pride for British public, BPI study reveals

A new BPI study has suggested that music is the biggest source of national pride in the UK, with participants placing music ahead of sports, literature, and theatre.

Over 2,000 nationally-representative participants were involved in the study carried out by AudienceNet on behalf of BPI. The study forms part of All About The Music 2026, the 47th edition of the BPI’s music industry yearbook.

74.7% of participants felt that British Music was a source of national pride, and 27% of those surveyed chose music as the cultural output for which the UK could be most proud. Contrastingly, 19.3% chose film and TV, 18.9% chose sports, 15.6% chose literature, 8.4% chose theatre and dance, 5.5% chose video games, and 5.3% chose visual art.

The study also found that 73.9% of participants believed that British music helps improve the UK’s reputation abroad, and 66.5% said they liked to listen to and support British artists when they could. Additionally, 63.1% of participants believed that the UK punched above its weight in terms of global music access.

At a time when the music industry and other creative sectors have been calling on the UK government to support them in an ongoing policy debate over generative AI training, the survey revealed clear demand for increased government backing of UK music. 67.9% of those who identified as music listeners agreed that the government should do more to support homegrown music.

“It’s encouraging to see that the public holds British music in such high regard and is so committed to seeing its continued success,” said Dr Jo Twist OBE, chief executive at BPI. “The UK is a creative superpower both economically and culturally, as can be seen across our many world-leading creative industries.

“Music speaks to the human experience in a unique and powerful way and is there for us at every moment in our lives. As we’ve seen over the last year with numerous new artists breaking through on the world stage, British music has a truly global impact - its importance and power as a cultural asset and economic force cannot be overstated.”

BPI’s All About The Music 2026 shines a spotlight on some of 2025’s biggest music success stories, with case studies of record label campaigns for Lily Allen, PinkPanthress, Sam Fender and Sky Newman.

It also highlights the presence of several rising domestic stars, including Olivia Dean, whose hit Man I Need achieved the highest number of global streams of any 2025-released British track. Other tracks from her chart-topping album The Art of Loving also made the top 10: So Easy (To Fall in Love) and Nice To Each Other.

BPI’s Top 10 2025-released tracks globally by UK artists

1. Olivia Dean – Man I Need

2. Ed Sheeran – Azizam

3. Ed Sheeran – Sapphire

4. RAYE – Where Is My Husband!

5. Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas – Blessings

6. Olivia Dean – So Easy (To Fall In Love)

7. Olivia Dean – Nice To Each Other

1. PinkPantheress – Illegal

2. Drake & Central Cee – Which One

3. Fred Again, Skepta &PlaqueBoyMax – Victory Lap

BPI’s analysis of Luminate data has also revealed that Coldplay generated the highest total streams among UK artists worldwide in 2025. Ed Sheeran came second, followed by Dua Lipa, Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris. 

Other artists in the top 20 included Adele, Central Cee, Charli xcx, Harry Styles, Oasis and Olivia Dean, as well as British music legends such as The Beatles, Elton John and Queen.

All About Music 2026 also spotlights the part played by the UK’s independent music sector, revealing that in 2025, independent releases claimed a record 29.5% share of Album Equivalent Sales (AES) — the metric used by BPI to measure combined volume consumption across digital, streamed and physical formats.

Among physical releases, independents accounted for 33.4% of the physical music market and 34.5% of vinyl LP sales. Independent-signed artists Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines D.C. and Radiohead were among the 10 best-selling vinyl artists in the UK in 2025.

Image Credit: Gwen Trannoy