National Album Day declare Oxford UK’s top location per capita for launching rock artists

The result was decided by how its Oxford’s artists outranked musicians from every other city on a per capita basis (reflecting population size), on a chart of the biggest-selling and most-streamed UK rock studio albums over the past three decades.

Notable groups from Oxford include Radiohead, Supergrass and Foals. 

The result was mainly dominated by Thom Yorke and his group, whose nine studio albums all finished among the UK’s top 500 rock studio albums by domestic artists, led by their 1997 UK chart-topper OK Computer and including The Bends, In Rainbows and Hail To The Thief. Supergrass see three of their albums, including the group’s studio debut I Should Coco as well as three Foals records led by 2013’s Holy Fire. 

Mick Quinn from Supergrass stated, “Oxford’s always had this vibrant music scene with a mixture of interloping students and locals. Ride, Radiohead and all the usual suspects seem to have started there.” 

Manchester sits in second, with a large majority of their score contribution coming from Oasis. The group’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory is the most-consumed rock studio album by a UK artist over the last three decades, while their six other studio albums also figure, alongside non-band releases by Liam Gallagher with his top album being As You Were and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, led by their self-titled debut. 

Liverpool ranks inside the Top 3, with two dozen albums on the chart. The enduring appeal of The Beatles means 12 of their original studio albums make the cut as well as bands like Cast and The Wombats. 

Greater London also takes the accolade as the UK’s biggest rock region or nation overall with its vast contributions including Blur, Coldplay, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

Below are the Top 10 UK cities for rock artists according to their chart sales (physical and digital download sales plus streaming consumption): 

1.    Oxford    
2.    Manchester        
3.    Liverpool        
4.    Sheffield        
5.    Glasgow
6.    Leicester
7.    London
8.    Leeds
9.    Salford
10.  Brighton    

Also below is the UK regions and nations for rock artists based on chart sales (physical and digital downloads plus streaming consumption): 

1.    Greater London        
2.    North West England        
3.    South East England        
4.    Wales        
5.    Yorkshire and the Humber
6.    Scotland
7.    East of England
8.    South West England
9.    Northern Ireland
10.  West Midland 

National Album Day is set to take place on Saturday, 18 October with a Rock being the theme this year and is presented by the BPI and ERA in association with official broadcast partner BBC Radio 2.