exploremusic

Weekly CD Sales Report

It’s official:  2009 was worse than 2008.  And 2008 was worse than 2007.  And—well, you get the idea.

Even though Christmas sales were up over 11% from last year—thanks largely to Susan “I Can’t Believe This Is Happening To Me” Boyle—the industry will finish the year down 2%.  Susie B sold another 50,000 copies in Canada, putting her at #1 for the fifth consecutive week.  And get this:  she’s the best-selling artist of all of 2009—and the damn album has only been out for eight weeks. 

Another big Canadian industry story involves digital gift cards.  Sales were up 53% over last week and over 22% from 2008.  Sales of digital tracks were up 86% as people cashed in their gift cards.  This Internet thing just might catch on.  (Speaking of digital sales, Kei$ha shifted 610,000 copies of “Tik Tok,” a new US record for a female artist.)

It’s much the same story in the US.  Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream sold another 510,166 copies.  I don’t have an exact figure for the last eight weeks, but she must be well over four million.  (And doesn’t THAT say something?  The biggest selling album of the year moved less than five million records.  Compare that to what was being bought ten years ago…)

I’ll try and round up more comprehensive year-end info for next week.  Right now, my wife wants me to clean the basement.  Some holidays…