Much has been made of the death – or, at the very least, mid-life crisis – of the album in the age of the mp3.

Recent figures from Music Week suggest that album sales are not in good health. Album sales in the last week were a measly 1,446,218 – 27.62% down week-on-week. The figures are the lowest since the turn of the century.

Singles sales, however, are up compared to this time last year. Adele’s unstoppable 21 has returned to the top of the charts for the umpteenth time.