Album Sales Slightly Down, Digital LP Sales Up 15% So Far in 2012: SoundScan
Album sales continue to decline slightly because of an accelerating drop in CD sales, but digital track passed the billion-unit mark for the first time in the first nine months of 2012.
U.S. album sales are down 4.4% to 218.4 million units for the first nine months of the year, fueled by CD sales dropping to 129.7 million units from 151.6 million units in the corresponding period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While digital album sales are up 15.3% to 85.5 million units, the 11.3 million-unit gain from last year's tally at the nine month point is only about half of the 21.9 million unit decline in CDs. Like digital, vinyl is also up dramatically -- a 16.3% increase to 3.2 million units from 2.7 million units. But it's still only about 1.5% of total U.S. album sales.
After nine months, Adele remains the leader in album sales with four million unit scans for her album, "21," to bring total sales of the title to 9.85 million units since its release in February 2011.
Digital track sales closed out the nine-month mark with 1.009 billion units. That represented a 6% increase over the 951.7 million units scanned in the first nine months of 2011.
One Direction's "Up All Night" has surpassed Lionel Richie's "Tuskegee" to move into second place for the year so far with 1.25 million units, versus the latter's 1.02 million units.
In digital songs, Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know' (featuring Kimbra) is the top selling song with scans of nearly 6.5 million units. Two other titles are over the five million-unit milestone: Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," with scans of 5.8 million units, and Fun's "We Are Young" (featuring Janelle Monae), which has scans of 5.6 million units.
The Universal Music Group (UMG) remains the top U.S. album distributor with a market share of 29.83% in albums plus track equivalent ones, just beating out Sony Music Entertainment by one percentage point. Sony Music posted 28.84% for the first nine-months of the year in that album count.
If only albums are considered, Sony is the top distributor with 32%, versus UMG's 26%. The latter's 31.2% track share, a six percentage point lead over Sony's, is how the company retains its lead in album plus TEA.
Catalog albums continue to drive the U.S. business. The category enjoyed a 3.7% gain to 110.5 million units from 106.6 million units in 2011's corresponding period. Meanwhile, current album sales drop 11.5% to 107.8 million units from 121.9 million units.
While catalog continues to hold a larger portion of album sales than current for the first time in SoundScan history, its lead softened somewhat in the third quarter -- at midyear catalog was up nearly two percentage points higher at 5.4% for the first six months of this year versus last year.
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TOP OPENING SALES WEEKS 2012
Rank - Chart Date - Sales - Title - Artist
01 - Oct-13 - 599,915 - BABEL - Mumford & Sons
02 - Jul-07 - 374,264 - BELIEVE - Justin Bieber
03 - Apr-14 - 358,653 - MDNA - Madonna
04 - Oct-06 - 280,128 - THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE - P!nk
05 - May-19 - 267,338 - BLOWN AWAY - Carrie Underwood
06 - Sep-29 - 265,961 - AWAY FROM THE WORLD - Dave Matthews Band
07 - Apr-21 - 253,057 - PINK FRIDAY: ROMAN RELOADED - Nicki Minaj
08 - Jul-28 - 234,289 - UNCAGED - Zac Brown Band
09 - Jul-14 - 223,420 - LIVING THINGS - Linkin Park
10 - Jul-14 - 222,201 - OVEREXPOSED - Maroon 5
11 - Jun-09 - 219,478 - BORN AND RAISED - John Mayer
12 - Aug-18 - 218,492 - GOD FORGIVES I DON'T - Rick Ross
13 - Oct-06 - 205,434 - KANYE WEST PRESENTS GOOD MUSIC CRUEL SUMMER - Various
14 - Apr-14 - 198,892 - TUSKEGEE - Lionel Richie
15 - Mar-24 - 195,974 - WRECKING BALL - Bruce Springsteen
16 - Jul-07 - 193,453 - WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL - Kenny Chesney
17 - Feb-25 - 187,494 - A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH - Van Halen
18 - Mar-31 - 176,175 - UP ALL NIGHT - One Direction
19 - Apr-07 - 175,030 - THE HUNGER GAMES: SONGS FROM… - Soundtrack
20 - Aug-04 - 148,716 - LIFE IS GOOD - Nas
21 - Sep-01 - 146,626 - BASED ON A T.R.U. STORY - 2 Chainz
22 - Feb-25 - 141,650 - NOW 41 - Various
23 - Oct-13 - 138,686 - UNO - Green Day
24 - May-12 - 137,554 - BLUNDERBUSS - Jack White
25 - Sep-08 - 134,917 - CHAPTER V - Trey Songz
26 - Jul-21 - 134,642 - FORTUNE - Chris Brown
27 - Jul-28 - 131,215 - CHANNEL ORANGE - Frank Ocean
28 - Apr-21 - 129,569 - CHANGED - Rascal Flatts
29 - Jun-30 - 128,099 - LOOKING 4 MYSELF - Usher
30 - Oct-13 - 114,911 - PUSH & SHOVE - No Doubt
31 - Oct-06 - 113,297 - BATTLE BORN - Killers
32 - Sep-29 - 112,758 - TORNADO - Little Big Town
33 - Aug-25 - 111,322 - NOW 43 - Various
34 - May-19 - 109,794 - LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS - Norah Jones
35 - Sep-29 - 109,545 - TEMPEST - Bob Dylan
36 - Apr-14 - 105,773 - AMARYLLIS - Shinedown
37 - Jun-30 - 103,172 - CLOCKWORK ANGELS - Rush
38 - May-05 - 102,127 - LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD - Jason Mraz
TOP SALES WEEKS 2012
Rank - Chart Date - Sales - Title - Artist
01 - Mar-03 - 729,900 - 21 - Adele
02 - Oct-13 - 599,915 - BABEL - Mumford & Sons
03 - Jul-07 - 374,264 - BELIEVE - Justin Bieber
04 - Apr-14 - 358,653 - MDNA - Madonna
05 - Mar-10 - 296,549 - 21 - Adele
06 - Oct-06 - 280,128 - THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE - P!nk
07 - May-19 - 267,338 - BLOWN AWAY - Carrie Underwood
08 - Apr-21 - 253,057 - PINK FRIDAY: ROMAN RELOADED - Nicki Minaj
09 - Mar-17 - 246,529 - 21 - Adele
10 - Feb-25 - 237,479 - 21 - Adele
11 - Jul-28 - 234,289 - UNCAGED - Zac Brown Band
12 - Jul-14 - 223,420 - LIVING THINGS - Linkin Park
13 - Jul-14 - 222,201 - OVEREXPOSED - Maroon 5
14 - Jun-09 - 219,478 - BORN AND RAISED - John Mayer
15 - Aug-18 - 218,492 - GOD FORGIVES I DON'T - Rick Ross
16 - Oct-06 - 205,434 - KANYE WEST PRESENTS GOOD MUSIC CRUEL SUMMER - Various
17 - Apr-14 - 198,892 - TUSKEGEE - Lionel Richie
18 - Mar-24 - 195,974 - WRECKING BALL - Bruce Springsteen
19 - Mar-24 - 194,643 - 21 - Adele
20 - Jul-07 - 193,453 - WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL - Kenny Chesney
21 - Feb-25 - 187,494 - A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH - Van Halen
22 - Mar-31 - 176,175 - UP ALL NIGHT - One Direction
23 - Mar-03 - 175,135 - THE GREATEST HITS - Whitney Houston
24 - Apr-07 - 175,030 - THE HUNGER GAMES: SONGS FROM… - Soundtrack
25 - Mar-10 - 173,778 - THE GREATEST HITS - Whitney Houston
26 - Apr-21 - 153,268 - 21 - Adele
27 - Mar-24 - 152,347 - NOW 41 - Various
28 - Aug-04 - 148,716 - LIFE IS GOOD - Nas
29 - Mar-31 - 148,394 - 21 - Adele
30 - Sep-01 - 146,626 - BASED ON A T.R.U. STORY - 2 Chainz
31 - Feb-25 - 141,650 - NOW 41 - Various
32 - Oct-13 - 138,686 - UNO - Green Day
33 - May-12 - 137,554 - BLUNDERBUSS - Jack White
34 - Sep-08 - 134,917 - CHAPTER V - Trey Songz
35 - Jul-21 - 134,642 - FORTUNE - Chris Brown
36 - Jul-28 - 131,215 - CHANNEL ORANGE - Frank Ocean
37 - Apr-07 - 130,421 - 21 - Adele
38 - Apr-21 - 129,569 - CHANGED - Rascal Flatts
39 - Apr-28 - 128,553 - TUSKEGEE - Lionel Richie
40 - Jun-30 - 128,099 - LOOKING 4 MYSELF - Usher
41 - Jan-21 - 124,498 - 21 - Adele
42 - Feb-18 - 121,940 - 21 - Adele
43 - Apr-14 - 121,234 - 21 - Adele
44 - May-26 - 119,524 - BLOWN AWAY - Carrie Underwood
45 - Feb-11 - 115,973 - 21 - Adele
46 - Jul-14 - 114,985 - BELIEVE - Justin Bieber
47 - Oct-13 - 114,911 - PUSH & SHOVE - No Doubt
48 - May-05 - 114,110 - TUSKEGEE - Lionel Richie
49 - Oct-06 - 113,297 - BATTLE BORN - Killers
50 - Sep-29 - 112,758 - TORNADO - Little Big Town
51 - Mar-17 - 112,065 - THE GREATEST HITS - Whitney Houston
52 - Aug-25 - 111,322 - NOW 43 - Various
53 - May-19 - 109,794 - LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS - Norah Jones
54 - Sep-29 - 109,545 - TEMPEST - Bob Dylan
55 - Mar-24 - 108,033 - OWN THE NIGHT - Lady Antebellum
56 - Apr-14 - 105,773 - AMARYLLIS - Shinedown
57 - Jan-28 - 104,047 - 21 - Adele
58 - Jun-30 - 103,172 - CLOCKWORK ANGELS - Rush
59 - May-05 - 102,127 - LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD - Jason Mraz
60 - May-26 - 101,351 - 21 - Adele