The BPI has released figures that reveal that the UK music industry is flourishing despite losing one of its most iconic outlets after the collapse of HMV.

The organization claims that 183.3 million tracks were downloaded in 2012 and that music downloads now count for 99.6% of all singles sold in the UK.

The BPI’s findings also show that many people are now shifting away from illegal downloads, instead opting to use legal online music retailers.

What more, 30.5 million digital albums were sold last year which represents an increase of 14.8% over the previous year.

The BPI also shed some light onto one of the reasons why HMV might have been struggling, claiming that 19.6% of the population now buy all of their music online rather than buying a copy from stores such as HMV.

Chief executive Geoff Taylor said to The Independent: "We think that physical music absolutely has a future on the high street.

"The labels have been doing everything they can to help HMV but we’re seeing very encouraging signs of growth in digital."

Figures reveal that 114 million albums and 936 singles have been sold in digital form in the UK to date but also that 3.7 million tracks have been streamed online through services such as Spotify.

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