Here's The Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Streaming Music In The UK

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JAKARTA - The COVID-19 pandemic or corona virus has had a major impact on music consumption in the UK, as thousands of people continue to enjoy music during lockdown.

5 Seconds of Summer reportedly headed to No.1 on the UK charts with 19,197 album sales - 88.9 percent of which were physical sales.

But, as MusicWeek reports, streaming accounted for 82.3 percent of last week's album chart, compared with 76.3 percent in the previous week and 75.3 percent two weeks ago.

Last week, physical album sales represented only 12.4 percent of the market, in contrast to 19.4 percent in the previous week and 20.3 percent two weeks ago.

The Weeknd, which released its fourth album After Hours last month, has so far led the streaming charts after scoring its biggest opening of 2020.

Other major releases include Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia, which battled 5 Seconds Of Summer for No.1 on the streaming charts.

This comes after new facts reveal that music streaming rates slumped at one point last month even though millions of music lovers around the world were staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Alpha Data, an analytics provider, streaming in the United States fell by about 7.6 percent during the week of March 13 to March 19 - the week many Americans first self-quarantined and other non-essential outlet businesses closed across the country.

A similar slump was seen in album sales and digital song sales. Physical album sales fell 27.6 percent, digital album sales fell 12.4 percent, and digital song sales fell 10.7 percent.

Britain is currently adjusting to life behind closed doors after a national lockdown was imposed last week.

UK citizens must stay at home except to shop for food and medicine, to do only one type of exercise per day, and for essential travel such as to and from work.

This follows the rule of Prime Minister Boris Johnson who previously closed pubs, restaurants and bars.