*L*E*G*A*C*Y*
Done.
Album fans, get the tissues out: weekly US sales figures have dipped to their lowest level since Nielsen SoundScan first began logging music sales, in 1991. During the week ending Sunday 12 January, only 4.25m units (CD and vinyl) were sold across the US – exceeding the previous lowest figure of 4.49m, from the week ending 27 October 2013.
Album sales have been in steady decline since 2010, when digital sales and downloads first began to overtake their analogue counterparts. In the US, annual album sales fell by about 12% in 2010, recovering slightly a year later when Adele's 21 stormed the charts to become 2011's bestselling album overall.
In 2012, album sales dropped by 4% – even with another bumper year for Adele – then dropped by 8% in 2013. Weekly sales of less than 5m units was rare before 2010, when retailers shifted less than 5m albums per week on a total of four occasions. Last year, however, weekly US album sales fell below 5m units a total of 18 times.
According to early January data, digital album and track downloads also declined over the course of 2013 – for the first time since 2001.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/16/physical-album-sales-fall-lowest-ever-level
Album sales have been in steady decline since 2010, when digital sales and downloads first began to overtake their analogue counterparts. In the US, annual album sales fell by about 12% in 2010, recovering slightly a year later when Adele's 21 stormed the charts to become 2011's bestselling album overall.
In 2012, album sales dropped by 4% – even with another bumper year for Adele – then dropped by 8% in 2013. Weekly sales of less than 5m units was rare before 2010, when retailers shifted less than 5m albums per week on a total of four occasions. Last year, however, weekly US album sales fell below 5m units a total of 18 times.
According to early January data, digital album and track downloads also declined over the course of 2013 – for the first time since 2001.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/16/physical-album-sales-fall-lowest-ever-level
