Streaming services have become the most significant contributor to the music industry for the first time, thanks to the likes of Apple Music and Spotify. In total, the number of customers subscribing to a streaming service topped 176 million, generating over five billion pounds for the music market.

Reversing 15 years of decline, the boom in streaming helped record labels achieve a third year of growth. However, despite the music industry now being worth 12 billion, it is still only two-thirds of the income achieved in 1999, thanks to the sale of CDs in that year.

Of the top ten best-selling albums of 2017, four British artists topped the chart with Ed Sheeran leading the way. His third release sold more than twice as many copies as Beyoncé’s album in 2016.

Other artists in the top ten include Taylor Swift, Pink, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Sam Smith and U2, all with sales topping over one million.

Bucking the worldwide trend, Europe has recorded the lowest growth of any music market in 2017, where fans are said to prefer physical formats as opposed to using digital services. The rise of markets like China, Africa, India and the Middle East are fuelling the growth in streaming.

Adam Gravite of Universal Music has said: “Africa is particularly exciting. The potential for African repertoire to travel to other continents is enormous. We expect breaking superstar African talent to impact the world stage, and soon.”

A recent rise in voice-activated technology has transformed the way in which fans listen to music, with an increase in the use of smart speakers. Record labels are now working with Google and Amazon to make voice commands more accurate with the recognition of local accents, thus fuelling the growth of streaming.