Nielsen: Music Sales Up For the First Time Since 2004
6 Jul, 2011 By: Erik Gruenwedel
Midyear turnaround underscores resilience of music sellthrough
Sales of physical and digital music increased 8.5% to 821 million units during the first-half of 2011 — the first increase since 2004, according to new data from Nielsen Soundscan.
The data tracking service, which provides the backbone to the vaunted Billboard charts, said total album (CD, LP, digital) sales increased 1% to 155.5 million units, compared with 153.9 million during the same period in 2010.
Digital tracks (singles), which include Apple iTunes, increased 11% to more than 660 million, compared with more than 597 million last year. Digital album sales rose 19% to 50.3 million (from 42.2 million), while LP/vinyl sales — once considered nearly obsolete — grew 41% to 1.9 million units from 1.3 million units.
Other than digital albums, which favored current hits (up 18%), the bulk of consumers opted for catalog fare (up 7%) or even deep catalog (up 10%).
British singers Adele and Lady Gaga dominated the respective Billboard charts, as did Katy Perry (top selling digital song “E.T.” featuring Kanye West) and The Beatles with Abbey Road on vinyl.
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