Latest Music Sales Numbers Confirm Current Trends: CDs Down – Downloads Up

According to the latest Nielsen SoundScan figures, 229.8 million albums were sold in the U.S. between Jan. 1 and July 1, a 15 percent decrease over the same period last year. Meanwhile digital tracks sales increased 49 percent to 417.3 million this year. However, the decrease in album sales becomes only 9.2 percent when digital singles are bundled together and counted as albums.

Television continues to sell music. Former American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry’s album “Daughtry” has proved to be the most popular this year, selling 1.7 million copies so far. A song from that album, “It’s Not Over,” is the sixth most popular digital track. Carrie Underwood, another “American Idol” alumnus, has the top-selling country album and the fifth best-selling album overall with 1.1 million copies of “Some Hearts” sold.

Last year’s top-selling album was a soundtrack inspired by the Disney Channel movie “High School Musical.” It had sold more than 3.7 million copies by December 31. The other most popular albums this year include Norah Jones’ “Not Too Late,” Akon’s “Konvicted” and Linkin Park’s “Minutes to Midnight.”

Gwen Stefani’s “Sweet Escape” is the most popular digital track this year, selling 1.8 million so far. The next closest seller is “Cupid’s Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes followed by Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder” and Fall Out Boy’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race.”

Author: FutureMusic

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