The comeback kid: HMV tops Amazon in UK physical sales

British entertainment retailer HMV has staged a comeback in the face of Amazon’s increased dominance to become the largest physical music retailer in the UK.

In the 12 weeks to 23 September, HMV experienced market share growth for the second consecutive quarter to a total of 28 per cent, according to data published today by Kantar Worldpanel. This was boosted by physical sales of soundtracks such as Mamma Mia 2, and the milestone release of compilation album Now That’s What I Call Music 100.

However e-commerce giant Amazon scooped up the most success last quarter, expanding its winning market share of the total entertainment sector to 23.2 per cent. Powered by video game sales to core demographics, Amazon increased its lead on its next closest rival by five percentage points.

Its rise was largely due to a rise in sales of brand new releases, which increased 60 per cent over the quarter thanks to the debut of popular titles such as Marvel’s Spider-man. Exclusively available on Sony’s Playstation console, the game itself proved a huge success by raking in more copies sold in its first two months on shelves than any other exclusive title ever on the Playstation 4. The game also attracted almost 50 per cent more buyers than its best-selling counterpart in the same quarter last year.

Digitally, video streaming service Netflix continued to cement its hold in the UK as the number of people with access to an account rose 31 per cent year-on-year. Users on its rival platform, Amazon Prime, increased just 24 per cent in comparison.

In music, the number of subscriptions to streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music rose to an all-time high to account for 16.3 per cent of the population.