Album sales in the USA for 2011 increased for the first time since 2004.
Adele 21
In the annual breakdown of the biz from Nielsen SoundScan album sales were up 1.3% to 330.6 million from 326.2 million in 2010.
The music industry is definitely on the rebound according to the Nielsen SoundScan. Overall music sales increased 6.9% to 1.6 billion for the first time ever.
Of the 1.6 billion sales, 1.2 billion were digital track sales. Digital track sales increased 8.5% for the year.
Overall album sales increased 3.2% to 457.7 million, digital album sales increased 19.5% 103.1 million but CD albums decreased 5.7% down to 223.5 million.
While CD albums are in freefall, vinyl is on the rise, up 36.3% this year. 3.9 million albums sold on vinyl in 2011. The number one vinyl album for the third year in a row was The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’.
The biggest selling album of the year was Adele ’21’. It sold 5.8 million.
The 2011 Top 10 Albums of 2011 were:
1. Adele – 21 (5,824,000)
2. Michael Buble – Christmas (2,452,000)
3. Lady Gaga – Born This Way (2,101,000)
4. Lil Wayne – The Carter IV (1,917,000)
5. Jason Aldean (1,576,000)
6. Mumford & Sons – Sign No More (1,420,000)
7. Drake – Take Care (1,247,000)
8. Justin Bieber – Under The Mistletoe (1,245,000)
9. Jay Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne (1,232,000)
10. Lady Antebellum – Own The Night (1,204,000)
