Music Sales Up 1% In 2011

It's hard to believe but as of December 15th, music sales were actually up 1% over last year, which represents the first time in about 10 years that has happened. That's more impressive when you consider that sales for 2010 were down about 13% from 2009, and prior to that they were down an average of about 8% in the 2000's.

Why the turnaround, you may be asking? For one thing, there were some actual blockbusters this year. First of all, Adele's 21 had sold 5,281,000 with two weeks of sales yet to be recorded. That means that her sales will be a lot closer to 6 million by the end of the year, considering the holiday buying season. million. But hold on; that doesn't include an additional 750,000 copies she sold this year of her last album, 19. Then consider that her single "Rolling in the Deep” has sold 5,665,000 downloads, followed by “Someone Like You” with 3,352,000, “Set Fire to the Rain” with 963,000, and “Rumour Has It” with 551,000. All in all, a banner year for any artist at any time.

There were other big sellers as well, but keep in mind that these numbers are a few weeks old.

1. Adele, 21 - 4,817,000 copies sold
2. Lady Gaga, Born This Way - 1,973,000
3. Michale Buble, Christmas -  1,964,000
4. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV - 1,776,000
5. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party - 1,389,000
6. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More - 1,328,000
7. Jay-Z/Kanye West, Watch The Throne - 1,124,000
8. Beyonce, 4 - 956,000
9. Lady Antebellum, Own The Night - 908,000
10. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream - 907,000

What does this mean? Music is still alive and well and people will gladly pay for it in one form or another if they love it (not just like it). Sales like this prove that there's a lot of great music being made today, and fans will buy it when they find it.

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