THE U.K. HONORS THE ALBUM

The Brits have united to declare 10/13 the first ever National Album Day to celebrate the format and promote its relevance in the age of streaming. A week-long series of events and activity supported by BBC Music aims to be an annual fixture of the music industry calendar, much like Record Store Day.

Planned activity will include dedicated BBC Music programming and editorial support, retail events and personal appearances, Classic Album Sundays LP playbacks, artist interviews/fan Q&As, and online listening parties. A social media campaign (@AlbumDayUK and #NationalAlbumDay) will invite people to nominate and share the album that has most inspired them. At 3.33pm on 10/13, fans, stores, radio stations and public spaces will be invited to play their favourite album in full.

National Album Day is being organised jointly by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) and record labels body the BPI, with backing and input from the wider music community. It arrives in a year that coincides with the 70th anniversary of the album. In 2017, 135m albums, or their equivalent, were either purchased, downloaded or streamed in the U.K. — a rise of 9.5% on 2016.

“Individual tracks may have stolen the limelight over the past few years, but British music fans love albums as much as ever,” ERA Chief Executive Kim Bayley said. “National Album Day is an opportunity to throw the spotlight back on to long-form listening and we are delighted that the Record Store Day team will play a key role in establishing this first-time event working alongside our friends and colleagues at the BBC, the BPI and the wider music community.”

BPI & BRIT Awards Chief Executive Geoff Taylor added, “The album has underpinned the phenomenal success of recorded music the world over, providing artists with a compelling medium through which to express their creativity and fans the freedom to engage with all shades of music through the stories that it tells.

“Streaming may be broadening our ability to access and discover music, but the concept of the album as a body of work that expresses a narrative or an artist’s creative vision at a given moment, remains as relevant and inspiring as ever.”