The new statistics from the Official Charts Company and BPI detail a 3.2% increase in physical music sales in the first half of 2024, with 8,044,760 units sold in the UK. This marks the first time figures have risen since the streaming boom that began in 2004. Indeed, overall physical album sales have not registered a year-on-year increase since 2004, when there was a 2.6% uplift to 163.4 million units. At the same midway point in 2023, physical albums growth was still negative (-0.3%), while the 12-month result last year was down 1.1%. The vinyl boom has not yet put physical music into positi…