Music Sales 2008

[deaths_friend]

The good old 12-inch vinyl album made a comeback in 2008 with Radiohead topping the LP chart.

Before you start selling your iPod, let me point out that while vinyl experienced a growth of 89%, we are talking total sales of 1.88 million units.

 

The Top 10 Vinyl Albums were:

 

1. Radiohead : In Rainbows (25,800)

2. The Beatles : Abbey Road (16,500)

3. Guns n’ Roses : Chinese Democracy (13,600)

4. B-52’s : Funplex (12,800)

5. Portishead : Third (12.300)

6. Neutral Milk Hotel : In The Aeroplane (10,200)

7. Pink Floyd : Dark Side Of The Moon (10,200)

8. Fleet Foxes : Fleet Foxes (9,600)

9. Metallica : Death Magnetic (9,400)

10. Radiohead : O.K. Computer (9,300)

 

The Top 10 Vinyl Artists were:

1. Radiohead (61,200)

2. Metallica (39,500)

3. The Beatles (20,400)

4. Elliott Smith (17,800)

5. Bob Dylan (15,200)

6. Portishead (15,100)

7. Ryan Adams (14,000)

8. Coldplay (13,900)

9. Guns n’ Roses (13,600)

10. Neutral Milk Hotel (13,200)

 

Numbers are from US Sales only

 

139,666,000 rock albums sold in the USA during the past year, fuelled in part by AC/DC, Metallica and Kid Rock.

1. Rock (139,666,000)

2. Alternative (80,919,000)

3. R&B (77,014,000)

4. Metal (50,476,000)

5. Country (47,657,000)

6. Rap (33,410,000)

7. Christian (29,793,000)

8. Latin (25,125,000)

9. Soundtrack (20,847,000)

10. Classical (13,323,000)

11. Jazz (11,791,000)

12. New Age (2,942,000)

 

Music sales have topped 1.5 billion units for the first time ever in the USA.

 

Despite the perceived drop in the music biz, digital sales have fuelled the most successful year ever for total sales in the US music industry.1,513 million sales were tallied during 2008 according to Nielsen SoundScan. That was up from 1,369 million last year or a 10.5% increase.While overall album sales were down 8.5%%, digital album sales were up 32%. More people bought albums digitally than ever before last year. Digital albums accounted for 65.8 million sales

 

More than 1 billion tracks were sold digitally in 2008. Digital track sales sold 1,070 million last year. The top selling digital artist was Rihanna. The top selling digital song was ‘Bleeding Love’ by Leona Lewis and the top selling digital album was ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay.

 

Source : http://www.undercover.com.au

[Pseudonym]

VLVOD = Top-Selling Digital Album!!

 

 

WHOOT!!!:dance:

[deaths_friend]

the most interesting thing about those numbers is that it disspells all the theories that Rap and RnB music dominates in the US. rock by itself sells more than Rap n RnB together.

[megacity]

the most interesting thing about those numbers is that it disspells all the theories that Rap and RnB music dominates in the US. rock by itself sells more than Rap n RnB together.

 

exactly, for some unknown reason, rap and r'n'b artists have much much bigger media support than rock and alternative artists (there are exceptions, like coldplay ;) ).

 

and because of this fact, other countries all around the world play this music everywhere and write about these artists everywhere, because "america does so. it's popular, people will like it).

 

they "assume" what people may like. they don't CARE what most of the population wants to hear.

 

it makes you think everybody just got crazy when you turn on mtv, but it's exactly the opposite - There are more and more people that like rock and alt. out there, it's just that nobody from the music bizz gives a shit.

[WV Gal]

I think the reason why the media pushed Rap and R&B is because the biggest buyers of that music, especially when it comes to Rap, are white teenagers, and we all know that the media is geared towards the teenagers.

 

I think the reason why Rock sells more is because most of the buyers of Rock music are the older population who have the money to spend it on their favorite artists and are more loyal to their favorite artists. For example, if you grew up on The Eagles and were a big fan of the band then you would buy their new CD no matter what.

 

In reality, the music business and radio stations really don't care about what people want to hear and that is why it is so hard for a lot of these artists especially the older artists.

[deaths_friend]

altnernative being 2nd was what surprised me the most. but then again something doesn't become mainstream by sales only. another reason why rock is sooo high up is because i'm 100% certain that there are far more rock albums released every year than of any other genre.

 

keep the discussion going people. :)

[WV Gal]

There probably are more rock albums released when compare to other genres, and that probably is become a lot of older artists, such as AC/DC, The Eagles, and so forth put out CDs and some where on their own labels.

 

This may sound silly but I think one reason why rocks sales are higher is due to the economy. Rock has this image of being against the govn't, being tough, angry, frustrated, and so forht, and with the economy the way it is a lot of fans probably could relate better to that genre of music. Does that make sense? You want to listen to music that you can relate to and rock is what a lot of people can relate to because that is how they are feeling.

 

Another reason why rock has the highest sales is because of the artists that they are classifying as "rock". There may be some artists who I wouldn't classify as rock but the industry does.

 

I still think the older population is the reason why rock is the top seller. Older people, and I am not talking about 50 or 60 year olds but 20's on up, have the money to spend on CDs when compared to teenagers.

[bjaiken]

It has always been my opinion that people who support rock/alternative music are more inclined to buy albums as oppossed to singles.

 

Just look at iTunes. As a whole, you will see that the top downloads for singles are usually Pop/Rap/R&B; the top downloads for albums are usually rock oriented.

 

Just from my own experience, I almost always buy albums because I support particular bands.

[megacity]

it is about support. rock / alt bands are long runners, and so are we, their fans ;).

 

but it is also true that rock / alt music has always been Album oriented, while Pop / R'n'b / Rap has mostly Single and Merch oriented marketing. that may be another reason.

 

also, fans of rock / alt prefer a hard copy of the album because the sound is better. still lot of people even buy vinyls.

with pop, it's mostly all about hits. who REALLY likes hits? stupid people. Do stupid people care about quality of sound? No. That's why these genres are more popular on legal / illegal download sites.

[deaths_friend]

another reason why rock is soo far ahead would be because alot of the classic rock bands from the 80s and 90s have built up substantial fan bases who will buy whatever the band releases. and yeh rock fans tend to be more loyal than fans of other genres. just look at what happened around the release of Metallica's Death Magnetic where you had hardcore fans lining up at midnight all around the world. very few bands have devotion like that.

[MrMagpie]

^Good point.

 

Thats why it is important for new bands to build up a good fan base who will support them over the years. Mind you that means the band will also have to pump out more than one good album :P

[bjaiken]

^Good point.

 

Thats why it is important for new bands to build up a good fan base who will support them over the years. Mind you that means the band will also have to pump out more than one good album :P

 

I agree. But they need the help of radio, which is not very good at supporting new artists. All of the legends wouldn't be legends without the help of radio. This has to change, and there has to be more of an emphasis on developing artists.

[megacity]

let's hope.

[MrMagpie]

I agree. But they need the help of radio, which is not very good at supporting new artists. All of the legends wouldn't be legends without the help of radio. This has to change, and there has to be more of an emphasis on developing artists.

 

I think bands can get big in this day in age without being dependent on traditional AM/FM radio. I think with online radio stations, music blogs...sites like last.fm and myspace...a band can form a big fan base without the radio.

[deaths_friend]

radiohead are living proof that you dont need radio support to become huge. they are played on only 3 of the top 1000 radio stations in the US but still managed to do a massive arena (or arty equivalent) tour around the country. i think its the RnB and Rap artist who need the radio support but arent getting it as the stations only plug the shit out of one or two songs ignoring the fact that all those artists have albums out.

[megacity]

I think bands can get big in this day in age without being dependent on traditional AM/FM radio. I think with online radio stations, music blogs...sites like last.fm and myspace...a band can form a big fan base without the radio.

 

it's half true.

 

the bands can generate buzz and fanbase on the internet, but in order to become big like U2, killers or coldplay, the NEED radios. Not only uk and usa, but on each continent. well, actually not only radios, tv and magazines as well.

[bjaiken]

radiohead are living proof that you dont need radio support to become huge. they are played on only 3 of the top 1000 radio stations in the US but still managed to do a massive arena (or arty equivalent) tour around the country. i think its the RnB and Rap artist who need the radio support but arent getting it as the stations only plug the shit out of one or two songs ignoring the fact that all those artists have albums out.

 

Radiohead are not good examples. They don't need radio NOW. But they certainly utilized it early in their careers. Songs like Creep, Fake Plastic Trees, Karma Police, and High and Dry were all useful in getting Radiohead into people's household.

 

Countless bands don't need radio ANY LONGER. Just sticking with rock acts, look at Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Metallica, The Cure, R.E.M., Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and U2. All of these artists are still active and no longer need radio to fill arenas. However, I could give you an era where each of these artists dominated radio stations. In other words, at some point in their career, radio was essential at getting their music "out there."

 

Radio, or whatever the form of mass media is at the time, is necessary to build developing artists. Two good examples given by Megacity are The Killers and Coldplay. These bands are huge because modern rock and contemporary radio plays them constantly. As such, they are able to reach a broad spectrum of listeners. The problem, in my opinion, is that you don't see very many new artists being developed so that they can compete for the title of biggest band in the world. There is nothing wrong with underground or cult bands, but I like it when the best artists are able to achieve large scale success.

[megacity]

Radiohead are not good examples. They don't need radio NOW. But they certainly utilized it early in their careers. Songs like Creep, Fake Plastic Trees, Karma Police, and High and Dry were all useful in getting Radiohead into people's household.

 

Countless bands don't need radio ANY LONGER. Just sticking with rock acts, look at Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Metallica, The Cure, R.E.M., Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and U2. All of these artists are still active and no longer need radio to fill arenas. However, I could give you an era where each of these artists dominated radio stations. In other words, at some point in their career, radio was essential at getting their music "out there."

 

Radio, or whatever the form of mass media is at the time, is necessary to build developing artists. Two good examples given by Megacity are The Killers and Coldplay. These bands are huge because modern rock and contemporary radio plays them constantly. As such, they are able to reach a broad spectrum of listeners. The problem, in my opinion, is that you don't see very many new artists being developed so that they can compete for the title of biggest band in the world. There is nothing wrong with underground or cult bands, but I like it when the best artists are able to achieve large scale success.

 

true. i wish somebody would play new singles by the cure or rem, but they just don't care about them anymore. they will play boys don't cry and everybody hurts till the end of their fcuking lives. :\

[Loki0012]

Aw.....Fak eplastic trees made me realize how amazing radiohead is....... jsut about a week ago

[deaths_friend]

now the issue with not many young artists being developed. i could not disagree with you anymore. look at the shear number of avenues bands have nowadays of building a following, starting with MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. now i cant speak much for other countries but i know in Australia we have a very very good structure for bands to be discovered. there are radio stations that specialise in playing unsigned artists and each commercial radio stations allocates several hours a day to playing new artists. because of that we have a constant flow of great bands.

 

but i do admit there is a problem. and the problem is that theres an infinite number of albums being recorded and very very very few are actually bought by a significant number of people. so yes at the end of the day not many artists enjoy international success. unless it is flogged to death by at least one form of media be it TV, internet or radio.

 

going back to the influence of radio. i think the current eocnomic situation has had a profound impact on how radio stations behave. the radio stations that 2 or 3 years ago thrived on playing unknowns are now playing it safe by sticking to the chart toppers. and relegating the lesser known acts to late night slots.

 

and i will never understand why the best artists arent the most successful.