Tag Archives: SoundScan

Music sales hit an all time low

Posted by on August 28, 2014

First the good news: Ace Frehley had a top 10 album when the charts came out yesterday. Then the bad news: pretty much everything else. For the week that just ended, the 3.97 million albums sold is the lowest cumulative week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. In fact, it’s the first time in the […]

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Album sales have never been lower than this past week

Posted by on January 16, 2014

As you saw in yesterday’s Metal by Numbers, there weren’t any notable heavy debuts this week, nor were there even that many metal bands selling. In fact, last week’s sales frame was the lowest-selling week in the SoundScan era, which began in 1991. According to a Billboard article, only 4.25 million albums were sold in […]

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Metallica’s “Black Album” Still Top-Selling LP Of SoundScan Era

Posted by on January 7, 2011

Metallica not only remains as one of the top ten selling artists of the SoundScan era, but their 1991 self-titled album (the “black album”) also remains as the highest selling album of the era, with 15.5 million sold and counting.

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SoundScan Reclassifies Numerous Indie Retailers

Posted by on January 12, 2010

SoundScan has announced the reclassification of 21 small retail chains and their 213 locations to count their sales alongside indie retailers. Previously these chains, like New England’s famous Newbury Comics, were considered large enough to be lumped in with megachains like Best Buy and FYE. Retail spokespeople like NARM President Jim Donio are pleased with […]

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US Music Purchases Rise In 2009

Posted by on January 8, 2010

US music purchases rose 2.1% in 2009 according to Nielsen SoundScan, including the sales of digital and physical albums, singles and videos. Overall album sales were still down, however, dropping 8.5% to 490 million, though digital album sales rose again to 16.1%, 76.4 million for the year. The study goes on to conclude digital now […]

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