Great news, U.S. album sales have risen for the first time since 2004. According to figures published by Nielsen and Billboard total album sales have increased and digital sales have defeated physical music sales for the first time in units.
Digital music sales have beat physical music sales, accounting for 50.3% of all music purchases, in units, in 2011. According to Billboard total album sales hit 330.6 million units, compared to 326.2 million in 2010. That’s an increase of 1.3%. That may seem small but considering how sales have been since 2004, any improvement is a big deal.
As expected, British singer Adele's "21" was the top-selling album in the United States last year at 5.82 million copies, the highest annual tally since Usher's "Confessions" sold 7.98 million copies in 2004. Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" was also the best-selling U.S. single of 2011 at 5.81 million downloads.
The small increase in the world's biggest music market will be welcome news to the record industry after years of declining revenues. The information for the report was collected from the Nielsen SoundScan, a data system that tracks all music sales, downloads, and streams. The information also includes hard copy sales from major retailers such as Amazon.com.
The music industry has a long way to go towards recovery. This increase is due to the Internet and the online music culture which has made it easier for listeners to find and purchase music. Grooveshark, Pandora, and Spotify are streaming services used to offer legal ways to get music.
Music will always live on, people continue to search for new music and support their favorites no matter how dire the industries circumstances. The music industry has a long way to go.
Sniderman, Z. (2012). Retrieved from: http://mashable.com/2012/01/06/music-2011-nielsen-soundscan-report/
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