Hurray! Billboard has published the 2012 Soundscan numbers! I love this data and I’ve been collecting it for years, looking up back issues of Billboard and scouring old news reports. It’s fascinating to see how the numbers evolve over time as people’s music purchasing habits change.
Soundscan has been counting music sales since 1991, and I’d love to be able to fill in some of the missing data, especially total album sales from 1991-1995 and vinyl sales prior to 2006. So if you can hook a brother up, let me know. I may also add in more charts because Google makes it fairly easy and they look kinda pretty. Until then, dig into the data.
Total Album Sales (physical + digital albums)
2012: 315.96 million
2011: 330.57 million
2010: 326.15 million
2009: 373.9 million
2008: 428.4 million
2007: 500.5 million
2006: 542.4 588.2 million [Corrected 10/30/2017. -ed.]
2005: 618.9 million
2004: 667 million
2003: 687 million
2002: 681 million
2001: 763 million
2000: 785 million
1999: 754.8 million
1998: 711 million
1997: 651.8 million
1996: 616.6 million
Compact Discs
2012: 193.73 million*
2011: 223.5 million
2010: 239.9 million
2009: 294.9 million
2008: 360.6 million
2007: 449.2 million
2006: 553.4 million
2005: 598.9 million
2004: 651.1 million
2003: 635.8 million
2002: 649.5 million
2001: 712.0 million
2000: 730.0 million
1999: 648.1 million
1998: ~578 million*
1997: 504.6 million
1996: 448.4 million
1995: 368 million
Digital Albums
2012: 117.68 million
2011: 103.1 million
2010: 86.3 million
2009: 76.4 million
2008: 65.8 million
2007: 50 million
2006: 16.2 million
2005: 5.5 million
Vinyl albums
2012: 4.55 million
2011: 3.9 million
2010: 2.8 million
2009: 2.5 million
2008: 1,877,000
2007: 990,000
2006: 858,000
2005: 857,000
2004: 1,187,000
2003: 1,404,000
2002: 1,339,000
2001: 1,246,000
2000: 1,533,000
1999: 1,405,000
1998: 1,376,000
1997: 1,092,000
1996: 1,145,000
1995: 794,000
1994: 625,000
Cassette albums
2009: 34,000
…
2007: 274,000
…
2004: 8.6 million
…
2002: 29.8 million
2001: 49.4 million
2000: 77.2 million
1999: 105.5 million
1998: ~130.8 million
1997: 146 million
1996: 166.7 million
Digital tracks
2012: 1.336 billion
2011: 1.27 billion
2010: 1.17 billion
2009: 1.16 billion
2008: 1.07 billion
2007: 844.1 million
2006: 582 million
2005: 353 million
2004: 141 million
2003: 19.2 million (SoundScan monitored them only during the year’s second half)
Track equivalent albums (where 10 track downloads equal one album)
2012: 449.6 million*
2011: 457.7 million
2010: 443.4 million
2009: 489.8 million
2008: 535.4 million
2007: 585 million
2006: 646.3 million
2005: 654.1 million
2004: 680.7 million
Sources: Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, USA Today, Computer World, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, CTV, BBC, WSJ, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Billboard, Pitchfork, Narm.
* – Indicates that this number was calculated using officially published numbers.
And sales continue to plummet….
The good news is that vinyl sales have been up year over year since 2006. Lastest growth was a little slower but up 17% since last year.
Is this worldwide statistics? Or American?
NV, Soundscan tracks U.S. sales.
Digital albums continue to rise every year. Apparently, these are more convenient I guess. Plus, they are cheaper. Of course, there are a lot of people who barely pay anything for an album online.
What about 8-track, dude? I’m wondering if I can replace my old Molly Hatchet albums?
Thanks for putting all of these numbers in one place. You mention missing “vinyl sales prior to 2006”, but have numbers on the page. I assume the source for those numbers wasn’t Soundscan, but one of your other linked sources?
Sorry for the confusion, Brett. I found the pre-2006 Soundscan data after I posted the original article.
Are these millions of albums, or millions of dollars made in album sales?
Millions of albums.