EDM Enjoys Double-Digit Growth in Australia, U.K.

2022 is heading to be a high watermark in the global rebirth of EDM.

Streaming of EDM on DSPs, which grew 14.8% year-on-year in 2021, expanded a further 7.4% in the first nine months of this year.

After hitting an estimated U.S. $8.2 billion in 2021, the market is set to reach $12.9 billion in 2028.

Australia has played an important role in this resurgence, posting continued growth according to the IMS Business Report.

This year Australia ranked No.16 among countries playing EDM on radio, and represented 20% of EDM’s share on Spotify.

An analysis by TMN found that seven EDM tracks have so far found their way into the ARIA Top 10 this year.

In the meantime, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) this week reported that over a quarter of 2022’s Top 10 hits in the UK’s Official Singles Chart were EDM.

The ARIA entries saw two reach the top spot – David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” and the Pnau remix of “Cold Heart” by Elton John & Dua Lipa.

The Guetta and Rexha track had gone viral before its August release, amassing 130,000 creations and 500 million views on TikTok.

Within the Aussie Top 5 were French DJ Cedric Gervais’ reworking of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” (No.3), Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal’s “B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)” (No.4), and Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott’s “Where Are You Now” (No.5).

Beyoncé’s EDM crossover dancefloor smash “Break My Soul” reached No.6, and Australian producer Luude’s reworking of Men At Work’s “Down Under” ft Colin Hay hit No.10.

Also doing well on the ARIA Charts were LF System’s “Afraid To Feel”, Jax Jones ft MNEK’s “Where Did You Go”, Tiesto & Ava Max’s “The Motto”, Dutch-Moroccan DJ R3hab & Amy Shark’s “Sway My Way”, and Becky Hill & David Guetta’s “Remember”.

Notable was “Following The Sun”, the collaboration between British DJ/ producers SUPER-Hi aka Red Triangle (who revealed they got their start listening to Aussie independent dance tracks) and the duo Neeka who included one of Red Triangle’s sisters,

The BPI figures sourced 26.1% of the singles that have entered the weekly Top 10 were EDM.

This, it related, was “an almost 80% increase on the genre’s share of Top 10 hits across the whole of last year (14.6%) and nearly three times as high as its share in 2019 (9.3%).”

As a result, EDM passed hip-hop/rap (21.7%) as a source of Top 10s, second to pop (40.6%).

Scottish production duo LF System’s “Afraid To Feel”, with Louise Clare Marshall on vocals, is one of nine dance tracks that generated more than 50 million audio streams in the UK this year

It spent eight consecutive weeks at No.1 this northern summer.

It was replaced at the summit by Eliza Rose with “B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)”.

After it went viral on TikTok, she became the first female DJ to reach the top of the U.K. chart since Sonique with “It Feels So Good” in 2000.

In one week in August “Afraid To Feel” and “B.O.T.A.” headed a Top 5 of EDM tracks, something that hadn’t happened for six years.

The BPI noted: “Perhaps as a reflection of the growing presence of dance, the average beats per minute of tracks in the Top 10 has continued to increase in 2022.

“In the year to date, hits in the Top 10 are averaging 127.9 BPM, up around 9% on 2018 when the average was 117.3 BPM and since when the average has risen every year.”

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor, added, “It’s fascinating to see how other genres such as hip-hop and pop are morphing into dance and to see dance music being embraced by global superstars including Drake and Beyoncé.”