Overall album sales are down again this year, but here are the Top-Selling Albums Of ’08, according to Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan:
1. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III – 2.88 million
2. Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends – 2.15 million
3. Taylor Swift – Fearless – 2.11 million
4. Kid Rock – Rock N Roll Jesus – 2 million
5. AC/DC – Black Ice – 1.92 million
6. Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift – 1.6 million
7. Metallica – Death Magnetic – 1.57 million
8. T.I. – Paper Trail – 1.52 million
9. Jack Johnson – Sleep Through the Static – 1.5 million
10. Beyonce – I Am … Sasha Fierce – 1.46 million
Notes:
• It’s the first time the best selling album of the year has sold less than 3 million since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.
• In 2008, there were 428.4 million albums sold, down 14.4% compared to 500.5 million in 2007.
• Digital downloads of albums: 65.79 million albums this year (15.4% of the overall album market), compared to 50.01 million (10% of the album market) in 2007.
• Physical CD albums made up 360.6 million albums this year (84% of the market), compared to 449.18 million (90% of overall album sales) in 2007. That’s a 19.7% drop in CD sales.
• Vinyl albums sold 1.8 million, more than any other year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.
More data: Digital Boosts 2008 Sales To New Mark.
“It’s the first time the best selling album of the year has sold less than 3 million since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.”
What’s more: that Lil Wayne album sold 1 million of that 2.88 million in the first week. That’s a BIG drop-off from first week sales.
Holy Back to the Future, Batman! Gold and Platinum sales are meaningful again!
With this Taylor Swift thing Nashvile and New Country radio have sold their souls to the devil.The devil being 12 to 17 year old girls with disposable income.About 5 or 6 years ago new country had some fun artists like Gretchen Wilson(Redneck Woman) and Big and Rich(Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy). I though maybe they’d have some staying power but they put out some real shit as followups. Taylor Swift is a cultural low we’ve haven’t seen since the dominance of Tiffany.
i actually saw someone buy a metallica album at best buy the week it came out. i couldn’t believe that someone was buying an actual physical cd.