HMV, which went into administration three and a half years ago, has recovered to the extent that its sales of physical music have overtaken Amazon in the UK.

The latest data on the physical entertainment market from Kantar Worldpanel showed that HMV attracted 41,000 new shoppers and grew its share of the physical entertainment market by 3.1%.

The strong performance was thanks to factors such as the debut album from Christine and the Queens, which sold two thirds of its total copies in HMV, along with Adele’s 25 which sold 29 per cent of all copies in store. However, it was also helped by Amazon’s continued focus on its digital music offering,  ahead of the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited which launches alongside the Amazon Echo in 2017.

Fiona Keenan, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments:
“HMV’s growth has been driven in large part by its success with several big music titles: two thirds of all sales of the critically acclaimed debut album from Christine and the Queens came via the retailer, and HMV also benefited from the ongoing success of Adele’s 25. A full year after its release, Adele’s 25 remains the top-selling artist album in the charts. It was also HMV’s bestselling album in the past 12 weeks, with the retailer capturing 29% of all sales.

“Meanwhile Amazon has seen a less positive performance in the latest quarter as 14% of its shoppers left the physical music market. It’s likely we’ll see this decline accelerate in the coming months as Amazon places greater focus on its digital offer. Amazon Music Unlimited is scheduled for launch in early 2017, and the new Amazon Echo will play a crucial role in the success of the retailer’s streaming service. With Black Friday just around the corner, strong promotional activity is likely to boost sales of the new device, persuading even more of Amazon’s customers to make the switch to digital.”