US Album Sales Fall 12.8% In 2010; Digital Tracks Gain 1%
January 5, 2011, 13 years ago
According to Billboard.com, as expected, the year-end Nielsen SoundScan numbers once again tell a tale of an industry in turmoil.
There were a few bright spots, but 2010 was mostly about diminishing returns. During the 52 weeks ended January 2, album sales in the United States fell 12.8% to 326.2 million units from 373.9 million units in the prior year, as the sales of CDs fell by nearly 20% for the fourth year in a row.
In the digital realm, growth in individual track sales continued to slow, barely managing to eke out a 1% increase, as sales reached 1.17 billion units, versus 1.16 billion in 2009.
Digital album downloads fared better, posting 13% growth to 86.3 million from the 76.4 million scanned during 2009, accounting for nearly 26.5% of all U.S. album sales last year, according to SoundScan.
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