The British music industry announces National Album Day celebrations set for October

The very first National Album Day has been announced.

A week of celebrations culminating on the 70th anniversary of the album on Saturday October 13 will take place, with all corners of the British music industry coming together to honour the format. 

Organised by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Entertainment Retailer's Association (ERA) in association with BBC Music, National Album Day will explore the UK's love of the album, with new releases, classic albums and iconic album sleeves all receiving recognition. 

In addition to the BBC generating a series of content across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio 6 Music stations plus on BBC iPlayer and BBC Four, OfficialCharts.com will reflect upon the Official Albums Chart's legacy, plus bring you stories and features full of chart trivia all about the nation's favourite albums.

In 2017 135m albums were either purchased, downloaded or streamed, a rise of 9.5% on the previous year. 4.1m vinyl albums were snapped up in 2017 – the highest level since the start of the 1990’s. The BPI estimates that a staggering 5 billion albums have been sold in the UK since the format’s origin in 1948.

“The British continue to be among the most the enthusiastic fans of music across the globe and they express this love by spending more than £8 million every single week on their favourite albums," stated Martin Talbot, Chief Executive Official Charts Company.

"The Official Albums Chart has been documenting this love affair every week for more than 60 years, but a National Album Day, to provide a new, special celebration of this great, much-loved and venerated institution, is long overdue.”

National Album Day's first ambassador Paloma Faith commented: "The way we engage with music may be changing, but for me the album remains the ultimate expression of the songwriter’s craft."

More information about National Album Day can be found over at @AlbumDayUK on Twitter, with conversation available via #NationalAlbumDay.