THE UK music industry is celebrating booming album sales - enough to give it a new record.

Figures out today show that UK artists, such as James Blunt, sold 62.4million albums in 2005. And half of all albums bought here last year were by homegrown acts - the highest share since 1998. The figures were released by the British Phonographic Industry ahead of tonight’s Brit Awards. UK album sales saw a significant rise on the previous year from 42.4% in 2004 to 49.4% in 2005, thanks to Blunt and his fellow stars including Kaiser Chiefs and Coldplay.

The popularity of US artists declined from 41.7% of the album market in 2004 to 37.7% in 2005.
BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said: “We are privileged to be living through an exciting time for UK music.
“From Kaiser Chiefs to KT Tunstall, from Gorillaz to James Blunt, British music is succeeding across the board and UK music fans are responding in their droves.

“It all means that the Brit Awards show is shaping up to be one of the best yet.” Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs and former British Army captain James Blunt lead the Brit nominations with five noninations each.  Blunt had the biggest selling UK album of last year.