U.S. album sales in 2009 declined for the eighth time in nine years, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while online song downloads grew too slowly to close the gap.
The data, released Wednesday, indicate that the recorded-music industry is still struggling to adapt to the digital age, even as SoundScan said digital downloads now account for 40% of music purchases.
Domestic album sales, including digital downloads, fell to 373.9 million units, a decline of 13% from 2008. Music fans bought 1.16 billion individual songs from services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, an increase of 89 million units, or 8.3%, from 2008. That represents a significant slowdown in digital-sales growth. In 2008, sales of digital songs increased by 226 million, or 27% over the previous year.
Combining album sales with what SoundScan calls "track equivalent albums"—counting 10 separate song downloads as the equivalent of a single album purchase—sales fell by 8.5%.
The best-selling album of the year, Taylor Swift's "Fearless," sold 3.2 million copies. By contrast, N Sync's "No Strings Attached" sold 9.9 million in 2000, the year the CD-sales boom peaked. That year, Americans bought 785.1 million albums, the most on record.
Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group continued to have the largest share of the market, with 30% of albums sold. Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment, however, closed the gap considerably, with 29% of albums sold—a gain of more than three percentage points from 2008.
Sony's market share got a major boost from the death of Michael Jackson, which propelled the late pop singer to the top of the list of best-selling artists, with 8.3 million albums sold.
One of the biggest surprises of the year came from singer Susan Boyle, whose debut album was released only in late November yet became the second-bestselling album of the year, with 3.1 million copies sold.
The 48-year-old Scotswoman was a runner-up on the "Britain's Got Talent" competition program. Thanks to a combination of YouTube popularity and numerous appearances on traditional media outlets like morning news programs, Ms. Boyle became an unlikely global celebrity.
Mr. Jackson's hits collection "Number Ones" was the third-biggest album of the year, with 2.4 million copies sold.
The Black Eyed Peas had the two biggest selling songs: "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." The Peas' label mate on Interscope Records, Lady Gaga, had the No. 3 song, "Poker Face."
source
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Record High Record Sales
Thanks to the success of downloads, the UK singles market had its best year ever in 2009, with more than 150m copies sold
The growth of downloads helped the UK singles market enjoy its best year ever in 2009. According to figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), 152.7m singles were sold last year, 98% of which comprised tracks that were downloaded.
The X Factor was behind many of last year's success stories in the singles chart, including Cheryl Cole, Alexandra Burke and the Christmas No 1 battle between Joe McElderry and Rage Against the Machine. A record 4.56m singles were sold in the last week of 2009, traditionally part of the biggest sales period for the music industry. Black Eyed Peas, La Roux and Lady Gaga were also among the biggest sellers of 2009.
Despite the continuing growth of the downloads market, only 128.9m albums were sold last year, a drop of 3.5% on 2008. Adam Liversage, head of communications at BPI, suggested that a number of factors contributed to the drop in album sales.
"Prior to their closure last year, Woolworths and Zavvi accounted for approximately 17.9% of album sales. Their demise meant that their were fewer places to buy music on the high street, with the exception of HMV and supermarkets such as Tesco."
Liversage also pointed to the growth in the number of online retailers in 2009. "While traditional methods of music sales suffered, online retailers offered unprecedented levels of competitive pricing, as well as the option to pick and choose individual album tracks rather than the whole LP."
Kim Bayley, director general of the entertainment retailers association, said "2009 started on a low note after the collapse of Woolworths and Zavvi, but entertainment retailers across the board worked with their suppliers to end the year with a far better result than anyone had expected."
source
The growth of downloads helped the UK singles market enjoy its best year ever in 2009. According to figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), 152.7m singles were sold last year, 98% of which comprised tracks that were downloaded.
The X Factor was behind many of last year's success stories in the singles chart, including Cheryl Cole, Alexandra Burke and the Christmas No 1 battle between Joe McElderry and Rage Against the Machine. A record 4.56m singles were sold in the last week of 2009, traditionally part of the biggest sales period for the music industry. Black Eyed Peas, La Roux and Lady Gaga were also among the biggest sellers of 2009.
Despite the continuing growth of the downloads market, only 128.9m albums were sold last year, a drop of 3.5% on 2008. Adam Liversage, head of communications at BPI, suggested that a number of factors contributed to the drop in album sales.
"Prior to their closure last year, Woolworths and Zavvi accounted for approximately 17.9% of album sales. Their demise meant that their were fewer places to buy music on the high street, with the exception of HMV and supermarkets such as Tesco."
Liversage also pointed to the growth in the number of online retailers in 2009. "While traditional methods of music sales suffered, online retailers offered unprecedented levels of competitive pricing, as well as the option to pick and choose individual album tracks rather than the whole LP."
Kim Bayley, director general of the entertainment retailers association, said "2009 started on a low note after the collapse of Woolworths and Zavvi, but entertainment retailers across the board worked with their suppliers to end the year with a far better result than anyone had expected."
source
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