Fewer artists hitting platinum sales

The number of new UK artists reaching platinum status with their music has fallen to it's lowest level so far this century. Research carried out by Music Week has found that Adele and Duffy are the only artists to have released their debut albums this year and sold more than 300,000 copies. Last year five artists managed this, while in 2006 it was nine, and 2004 and 2005 saw six achieve the platinum status.