Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending July 13) totaled 4.1 million units, down 5 percent compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 19 percent compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 129.2 million, down 15 percent compared with the same total at this point last year (151.8 million).

The week's 4.1 million haul is the smallest weekly sum for album sales since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. Weekly album sales volume has been below 5 million for the past 12 consecutive weeks. The 5 million mark has only been surpassed in five weeksthis year. To compare, a year ago at this point, there were 21 weeks where sales exceeded 5 million.

Weekly volume didn't fall below 5 million in the SoundScan era until 2010, when, in the week ending May 30, album sales dropped to 4.9 million.