December 31, 2008 – Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product, Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, and Nielsen RingScan, which tracks mobile ringtone purchases, have announced their 2008 U.S. year-end sales and performance monitoring data for the 52-week period December 31, 2007 through December 28, 2008.
OVERALL MUSIC SALES (12/31/07 – 12/28/08)
(ALBUMS,SINGLES, MUSIC VIDEO, DIGITAL TRACKS – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
1,513* 1,369 10.5%
OVERALL ALBUM SALES (12/31/07 – 12/28/08)
(INCLUDES ALL ALBUMS & TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
535.4 584.9 -8.5%
TOTAL ALBUM SALES (12/31/07 – 12/28/08)
(INCLUDES CD, CS, LP, DIGITAL ALBUMS – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
428.4 500.5 -14%
INTERNET ALBUM SALES (12/31/07 -12/28/08)
(PHYSICAL ALBUM PURCHASES VIA E-COMMERCE SITES, IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
27.5 30.1 -8.6%
DIGITAL TRACK SALES
(12/31/2007 – 12/28/08 – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % CHG.
1,070* 844.2 27%
DIGITAL ALBUM SALES
(12/31/2007 – 12/28/2008 – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % CHG.
65.8* 50.0 32%
TOTAL LP ALBUM SALES (12/31/07 – 12/28/08)
(LP/VINYL ALBUMS – IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
1.88* .99 89%
HOLIDAY SEASON ALBUM SALES (11/17/08 – 12/28/08)
(Physical & Digital ALBUM SALES DURING HOLIDAY SEASON: IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2008 2007 % Chg.
80.1 98.7 -19%
*Denotes a Nielsen SoundScan sales record
2008 GENRE ALBUM SALES REPORT
(12/31/07-12/28/08 – IN THOUSANDS)
Genre 2008 2007 % Chg.
Alternative 80,919 88,604 -8.7%
Christian/Gospel+ 29,793 34,017 -12.4%
Classical 13,323 18,044 -26.0%
Country 47,657 62,696 -24.0%
Jazz 11,791 14,047 -16.1%
Latin 25,125 31,853 -21.1%
Metal 50,476 52,951 -4.7%
New Age 2,943 3,210 -8.3%
R&B 77,014 95,555 -19.4%
Rap 33,410 41,662 -19.8%
Rock 139,666 149,414 -6.5%
Soundtrack 20,847 24,570 -15.2%
CURRENT VS. CATALOG ALBUM SALES
(12/31/07-12/28/08 – IN MILLIONS)
Overall Albums 2008 2007 % Chg.
Current 249.6 306.4 – 19%
Catalog 178.8 194.1 – 8%
Deep Catalog 128.9 138.7 – 7%
Physical Albums: 2008 2007 % Chg.
Current 215.3 279.3 – 23%
Catalog 147.3 171.2 -14%
Deep Catalog 106.2 122.7 -13%
Digital Albums: 2008 2007 % Chg.
Current 34.3 27.1 27%
Catalog 31.5 22.9 37%
Deep Catalog 22.7 16.0 41%
(Note: Titles may appear in more than one genre.)
+Sales figures tracked by Christian SoundScan
2008 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE (12/31/07 – 12/28/08)
(reflects the market share for the entire entity including sub-distributed companies)
TOTAL ALBUMS (Catalog & Current Titles)
2008 2007
UMG 31.52% 31.90%
BMG 10.06% 11.11%
SONY 15.24% 13.86%
SONYBMG Total 25.30% 24.97%
WMG 21.38% 20.28%
EMI 8.97% 9.37%
OTHERS 12.83% 13.48%
CURRENT ALBUMS
2008 2007
UMG 34.75% 34.48%
BMG 10.94% 12.60%
SONY 13.75% 12.52%
SONYBMG Total 24.69% 25.12%
WMG 20.86% 19.12%
EMI 7.67% 8.31%
OTHERS 12.03% 12.97%
CATALOG ALBUMS
2008 2007
UMG 27.02% 27.81%
BMG 8.83% 8.74%
SONY 17.32% 15.98%
SONYBMG Total 26.15% 24.72%
WMG 22.10% 22.12%
EMI 10.77% 11.05%
OTHERS 13.95% 14.30%
DIGITAL ALBUMS
2008 2007
UMG 27.80% 27.69%
BMG 7.52% 9.06%
SONY 13.78% 13.80%
SONYBMG Total 21.30% 22.86%
WMG 23.48% 22.98%
EMI 10.91% 10.80%
OTHERS 16.50% 15.67%
DIGITAL TRACKS
2008 2007
UMG 31.77% 33.75%
BMG 10.23% 9.02%
SONY 13.31% 14.17%
SONYBMG Total 23.54% 23.19%
WMG 20.87% 20.50%
EMI 8.36% 7.74%
OTHERS 15.35% 14.83%
2008 TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS
(12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Tha Carter III/ Lil Wayne 2,874,000
2 Viva La Vida/ Coldplay 2,144,000
3 Fearless/Taylor Swift 2,112,000
4 Rock N Roll Jesus/ Kid Rock 2,018,000
5 Black Ice/ AC/DC 1,915,000
6 Taylor Swift/Taylor Swift 1,597,000
7 Death Magnetic/ Metallica 1,565,000
8 Paper Trail/ T.I. 1,522,000
9 Sleep Through the Static/ Jack Johnson 1,492,000
10. I Am…Sasha Fierce/ Beyonce 1,459,000
2008 TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS
(based on Album sales from 12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Taylor Swift 4,003,000
2 AC/DC 3,418,000
3 Lil Wayne 3,382,000
4 Coldplay 2,691,000
5 Metallica 2,466,000
6 Kid Rock 2,405,000
7 Jonas Brothers 2,340,000
8 Sugarland 2,063,000
9 Nickelback 1,953,000
10. Jack Johnson 1,895,000
2008 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL SONGS
(combines all versions of the same Song:12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 3,420,000
2 Lollipop/ Lil Wayne Feat. Static Major 3,161,000
3 Low/ Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 2,979,000
4 I Kissed A Girl/ Katy Perry 2,977,000
5 Viva La Vida/ Coldplay 2,914,000
6 Disturbia/ Rihanna 2,766,000
7 Whatever You Like/ T.I. 2,682,000
8 I’m Yours/ Jason Mraz 2,655,000
9 No Air/ Jordin Sparks Duet w/ Chris Brown 2,612,000
10. So What/ Pink 2,590,000
2008 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ARTISTS
(based on digital track sales from 12/31/2007 – 12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Rihanna 9,941,000
2 Taylor Swift 8,793,000
3 Kayne West 6,876,000
4 Chris Brown 6,811,000
5 Britney Spears 6,284,000
6 Jonas Brothers 6,058,000
7 Coldplay 5,933,000
8 Katy Perry 5,840,000
9 Leona Lewis 5,027,000
10. Jordin Sparks 4,918,000
2008 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL TRACKS
(12/31/07 – 12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 3,369,000
2 Low (Album Version)/ Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 2,935,000
3 Disturbia/ Rihanna 2,715,000
4 I Kissed A Girl/ Katy Perry 2,631,000
5 I’m Yours (Album Vers.)/ Jason Mraz 2,599,000
6 No Air/ Jordin Sparks Duet w/ Chris Brown 2,586,000
7 So What/ Pink 2,343,000
8 Pocketful Of Sunshine/ Natasha Bedingfield 2,275,000
9 Hot N Cold/ Katy Perry 2,252,000
10. 4 Minutes/ Madonna Feat. Justin Timberlake 2,241,000
2008 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ALBUMS
(12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Viva La Vida/ Coldplay 617,000
2 Sleep Through the Static/Jack Johnson 325,000
3 Soundtrack/Juno 280,000
4 Tha Carter III/ Lil Wayne 267,000
5 Fearless/Taylor Swift 225,000
6 Soundtrack/ Twilight 214,000
7 We Sing We Dance…/Jason Mraz 184,000
8 808s & Heartbreak/ Kanye West 183,000
9 Circus/Britney Spears 172,000
10. Death Magnetic/ Metallica 158,000
TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS DURING 2008 HOLIDAY SEASON
(11/17//2008-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Fearless/ Taylor Swift 1,520,000
2 I Am…Sasha Fierce/ Beyonce 1,458,000
3 Dark Horse/ Nickelback 1,165,000
4 Circus/ Britney Spears 1,104,000
5 808s & Heartbreak/ Kanye West 1,023,000
6 Soundtrack/ Twilight 856,000
7 David Cook/David Cook 811,000
8 Noel/Josh Groban 767,000
9 Now 29/ Various 725,000
10. Black Ice/ AC/DC 5 95,000
2008 TOP TEN INTERNET ALBUMS
(12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Death Magnetic/ Metallica 144,000
2 Little Bit Longer/ Jonas Brothers 119,000
3 Viva La Vida/ Coldplay 112,000
4 Fearless/ Taylor Swift 82,000
5 Winter Came/ Enya 75,000
6 Soundtrack/ Twilight 74,000
7 Black Ice/ AC/DC 62,000
8 Promise/ Il Divo 62,000
9 Soundtrack/ High School Musical 3: 56,000
10. David Cook/ David Cook 55,000
2008 TOP TEN VINYL ALBUMS
(12/31//2007-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 In Rainbows/ Radiohead 25,800
2 Abbey Road/ Beatles 16,500
3 Chinese Democracy/ Guns ‘N Roses 13,600
4 Funplex/ B-52’s 12,800
5 Third/ Portished 12,300
6 In the Aeroplane… /Neutral Milk Hotel 10,200
7 Dark Side of the Moon/ Pink Floyd 10,200
8 Fleet Foxes/ Fleet Foxes 9,600
9 Death Magnetic/ Metallica 9,400
10. O.K. Computer/ Radiohead 9,300
2008 TOP TEN VINYL ARTISTS
(based on vinyl album sales from 12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Radiohead 61,200
2 Metallica 39,500
3 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
TOP SELLERS IN SOUNDSCAN ERA:
TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA
(1991-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Garth Brooks 68,143,000
2 Beatles 57,088,000
3 Mariah Carey 51,569,000
4 Metallica 51,136,000
5 Celine Dion 50,571,000
6 George Strait 40,619,000
7 Tim McGraw 37,591,000
8 Alan Jackson 36,520,000
9 Pink Floyd 35,213,000
10. Shania Twain 33,707,000
TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA
(1991 – 12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Come On Over/ Shania Twain 15,473,000
2 Metallica/ Metallica 15,319,000
3 Jagged Little Pill/ Alanis Morissette 14,607,000
4 Millennium/ Backstreet Boys 12,104,000
5 Soundtrack/ Bodyguard 11,805,000
6 Supernatural/ Santana 11,673,000
7 Human Clay/ Creed 11,525,000
8 Beatles 1/ Beatles 11,345,000
9 No Strings Attached/ N Sync 11,109,000
10. Falling Into You/ Celine Dion 10,777,000
TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL SONGS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA
(7/4/2004-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Units Sold
1 Low/ Flor Rida Feat. T-Pain 4,530,000
2 Apologize/ Timbaland Feat. OneRepublic 4,009,000
3 Crank That(Soulja Boy)/ Soulja Boy TellTMEm 3,968,000
4 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 3,434,000
5 Stronger/ Kanye West 3,288,000
6 Hey There Delilah/ Plain White TTMs 3,244,000
7 Lollipop/ Lil Wayne Feat. Static Major 3,161,000
8 Big Girls Don’t Cry/ Fergie 3,148,000
9 Umbrella/ Rihanna Feat. Jay-Z 3,122,000
10. Sexyback/ Justin Timberlake Feat. Timbaland 3,037,000
TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ALBUMS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA
(7/4/2004 – 12/28/2008)
Artist Units Sold
1 Viva La Vida/ Coldplay 617,000
2 Continuum/ John Mayer 386,000
3 Back To Black/ Amy Winehouse 352,000
4 Daughtry/ Daughtry 346,000
5 Sleep Through the Static/Jack Johnson 325,000
6 It Won’t Be Soon Before…/Maroon 5 320,000
7 Soundtrack/Juno 317,000
8 Futuresex/Love Sounds/ Justin Timberlake 312,000
9 In Between Dreams/ Jack Johnson 310,000
10. Graduation/ Kanye West 303,000
2008 Year End Factoids:
Music purchases in 2008 reached 1.5 Billion, marking the fourth consecutive year music sales have exceeded 1 billion; 1.4 billion (2007) vs. 1.2 billion (2006) vs. 1 billion (2005).
Music sales exceeded 65 million in the final week of 2008, representing the biggest sales week in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was Christmas week 2007 with 58.4 million music purchases.
Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 8.5% compared to 2007.
Total Album sales declined 14% compared to 2007.
Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” is the best selling Internet album for the year with 144,000 sales.
During 2008, more Vinyl Albums were purchased (1.88 million) than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was in 2000, with 1.5 million LP album sales.
* Note that more than 2 out of every 3 vinyl albums were purchased at an independent music store during the year.
Digital Factoids:
Digital Track sales break the 1 BILLION sales mark for the first time with more than 1,070,000 digital track sales. The previous record was 844 million digital track purchases during 2007; an increase of 27% over 2007.
Digital Album sales reached an all-time high with more than 65 million sales in 2008; up from 50 million in 2007; an increase of 32% over the previous year.
* Note that digital album sales account for 15% of total album sales compared to 10% in 2007 and 5.5% in 2006.
In the final reporting week of 2008 the following digital sales records were broken:
* Digital Track sales surpassed 47.7 million. The previous sales record was 42.9 million, week of 12/23 -12/30/07.
* Digital Album sales this week broke the two million mark for the first time with sales of 2.4 million sales; breaking the previous record of 1.9 million (12/30/07).
* The top 200 digital songs for the week posted an all-time high with 13.6 million sales; breaking the previous record of 11.9 million during the last week of 2007.
* The first time that the Top 5 digital songs (combining all versions of the same song) sold more than 300,000 downloads in a week with Lady GagaTMs “Just Dance” selling 419,000. The record for most downloads for a digital song in one week continues to be Flo RidaTMs “Low” with sales of 467,000 set during the last week of 2007.
2008 is the first time a digital song broke the 3 million sales mark in a single year. There were 2 songs that achieved this milestone; Leona LewisTM “Bleeding Love” and Lil WayneTMs “Lollipop;” with sales of 3.4 and 3.2 million respectively.
In 2008, there are 19 different digital songs with sales that exceeded 2 million compared to 9 in 2007.
71 Digital Songs exceed the 1 million sales mark for the year compared to 41 digital songs in 2007, 22 in 2006, and only 2 digital songs in 2005.
Rihanna is the biggest selling digital artist in 2008 with nearly 10 million track sales compared to Fergie in 2007 who had 7.5 million track sales.
There are more than 450,000 different physical albums that sold at least one copy over the Internet during 2008 compared to 390,000 in 2007.
Best Seller Factoids:
Lil WayneTMs Tha Carter III is the biggest selling album of the year with 2.8 million sales.
Taylor Swift is the biggest selling solo artist, with sales greater than 4.0 million albums and AC/DC is the biggest selling group in 2008 with sales of 3.4 million.
* Taylor Swift stands at the top of the list, marking the 2nd time in the last three years that a country artist is the top selling artist for the year. Rascal Flatts was the biggest selling artist in 2006 with 5 million sales. Josh Groban took the honors last year (2007) with 4.8 million sales.
Taylor SwiftTMs Fearless and her self-titled album finished the year at #3 and #6 respectively with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. This is the first time in the history of Nielsen SoundScan one artist had two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart
Holiday SeasonFactoids: (last 6 weeks of year).
Overall Album sales during the 2008 holiday season were down 19% compared to 2007, with sales of just over 80 million.
Album sales during the holiday season accounted for 19% of all album sales for the year.
Digital Album sales during the holiday season experienced significant growth over 2007 with an increase of 37% to 9.9 million sales.
Strata Factoids:
Album sales at Non-Traditional music outlets (digital, internet, mail order, venue, non-traditional retailers) hit an all-time high in 2008 with sales breaking the 100 million mark for the first time. Non-Traditional is the only strata that experienced album growth over the previous year; with an increase of 15% over 2007.
* Non-traditional outlets account for nearly 25% of all album sales, compared to 18% in 2007, 12% in 2006, 9% in 2005 and 5% in 2004 (4% in 2003).
* Digital services account for 65% of the Non-Traditional album sales.
The last two weeks of the year produced the two biggest album sales weeks for Non-Traditional outlets; 3.3 and 3.2 million sales.
The percentage of album sales at mass merchants declined for the second straight year after experiencing year over year growth from 2002 ” 2006. In 2008, 37% of all albums purchased were at a Mass Merchant outlet compared to 40% in 2007, 41% in 2006, 40% in 2005.
Chain music stores account for 33% of all album sales in 2008; compared to 36% in 2007; 41% in 2006, 45% in 2005 and 48% in 2004.
Album sales at Independent music stores account for 7% of all album sales; up 1 point from a year ago (6% in 2007 and 2006, 7% in 2005 and 9% in 2004).
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), the music industryTMs leading music performance monitoring service, has announced the most played songs at radio, at video, as well as Internet music streams for 2008.
Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Most Played Songs
Title/Artist Detections
1 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 468,000
2 Low/ Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 410,000
3 Love Song/ Sara Bareilles 398,000
4 Apologize/ Timbaland feat. OneRepublic 383,000
5 With You/ Chris Brown 369,000
6 No Air/ Jordin Sparks Duet w/ Chris Brown 365,000
7 Love In This Club/ Usher feat. Young Jeezy 364,000
8 No One/ Alicia Keys 362,000
9 Lollipop/Lil Wayne feat. Static Major 342,000
10. Sexy Can I/ Ray J & Yung Berg 341,000
Nielsen BDS: 2008 Top 10 Artist Airplay
Artist Detections
1 Rihanna 889,000
2 Rascal Flatts 827,000
3 Toby Keith 826,000
4 Chris Brown 818,000
5 George Strait 777,000
6 Tim McGraw 776,000
7 Alicia Keys 771,000
8 Taylor Swift 746,000
9 Alan Jackson 741,000
10. Daughtry 734,000
Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Music Video Internet Streams
Title/Artist Streams
1 Touch My Body/ Mariah Carey 7,399,000
2 Don’t Stop The Music/ Rihanna 7,337,000
3 No One/ Alicia Keys 6,290,000
4 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 5,750,000
5 Lollipop/Lil Wayne feat. Static Major 4,924,000
6 Apologize/ Timbaland feat. OneRepublic 4,469,000
7 Piece of Me/ Britney Spears 4,385,000
8 No Air/ Jordin Sparks Duet w/ Chris Brown 4,348,000
9 With You/ Chris Brown 4,121,000
10 Tattoo/ Jordin Sparks 4,086,000
Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Internet Streamed Songs
Title/Artist Streams
1 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 10,699,000
2 Love Song/ Sara Bareilles 10,558,000
3 Low/ Flo Rida Feat. T-Pain 9,837,000
4 No One/ Alicia Keys 9,680,000
5 With You/ Chris Brown 8,971,000
6 Sorry/ Buckcherry 8,940,000
7 Love In This Club/ Usher feat. Young Jeezy 8,892,000
8 Touch My Body/ Mariah Carey 8,675,000
9 No Air/ Jordin Sparks Duet w/ Chris Brown 8,160,000
10. Stop and Stare/ OneRepublic 8,004,000
Nielsen RingScan has announced the Top Selling Mastertones and Polyphonic ringtones for 2008.
Nielsen RingScan: Top 10 Mastertones
( 12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Sales
1 Lollipop/ Lil Wayne 2,365,000
2 Whatever You Like/ T.I. 1,627,000
3 Low/ Flo Rida 1,607,000
4 I Kissed A Girl/ Katy Perry 1,138,000
5 Love In This Club/ Usher feat. Young Jeezy 1,013,000
6 Bleeding Love/ Leona Lewis 922,000
7 With You/ Chris Brown 892,000
8 Bust It Baby/ Plies 891,000
9 Sexy Can I/Ray J 852,000
10. Take A Bow/ Rihanna 844,000
Nielsen RingScan: Top 10 Polyphonic Ringtones
(12/31/2007-12/28/2008)
Title/Artist Sales
1 Adios Amor Te Vas/ Grupo Montez De… 85,000
2 Super Mario Bros./Koji Kondo 68,000
3 Pink Panther/ Henry Mancini 64,000
4 Candy Shop/ 50 Cent 53,000
5 Because I Got High/ Afroman 52,000
6 Crank Dat Soulja Boy/ Soulja Boy 47,000
7 Rockstar/ Nickelback 40,000
8 Best Friend/ 50 Cent 39,000
9 I Ain’t Mad At Cha/ 2Pac 36,000
10. Bed/ J Holiday 35,000
Nielsen RingScan Factoids:
During the last week of the year (Christmas week), ringtone purchases increased by 15% over the previous week (consistent with sales spike during the last week of 2007 and 2006).
Mastertone purchases account for 95% of all ringtone sales in 2008; up from 91% in 2007.
The top 100 Mastertone ringers sold 43.8 million, accounting for 26% of all ringtone sales for the year; down from 30% in 2007.