UK Album Sales Dive 10% In 2007
According to trade group BPI, album sales in the United Kingdom dropped 10 percent last year. The continued spiral down demonstrates that the record industry is far from pulling out of the freefall that has plagued the music business over the last several years. BPI withheld specific sales figures over the last year, but the dire news should be reflected in the US figures that are expected to be released shortly. In fact, between Thanksgiving and Christmas of this year, US sales dropped 21%, according to figures released by Nielsen Soundscan. Not pretty.
British downloads continued to grow with paid downloads reaching 77.6 million in 2007, up 47.7% from year-ago figures of 52.5 million, but not at the same pace as 2006. At the end of 2006, paid downloads increased by approximately 25 million, a figure that is almost equal to recent-year gains.
