Digital Sales Hit Record High In '07

As physical CD sales continue their free fall, digital downloads again reached record sales figures for the year.

U.S. digital download sales reached an all-time high for the fourth year in a row, culminating with the biggest post-holiday sales week. For Christmas week (December 24-30), shoppers downloaded almost 43 million tracks from various digital music services, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. That's a 42.5 percent jump over the 30.1 million downloaded in the same week the previous year.

For the year, 844.1 million tracks were downloaded digitally, a 45 percent rise over the 581.9 million tally for 2006. Digital albums are up 53.5 percent as well, at 50 million sold, compared with 32.5 million in 2006. Fourth-quarter sales also reached all-time highs, with 231.9 million tracks and 14.2 million albums sold digitally during the period, compared with 163.3 million tracks and 9.8 million albums the year before.

Individual songs are performing better, too. "Low" by Flo Rida sold 467,000 downloads for the week, topping the 294,000 digital units of Fergie's "Fergalicious" for the same week in 2006. In addition, 27 songs sold more than 100,000 units during the post-Christmas rush, with 10 exceeding 200,000. In 2006, only 15 songs sold more than 100,000 and four sold more than 200,000.

These figures highlight a banner year for individual songs as well. Setting the record for the most downloaded digital track in a year is Soulja Boy with "Crank That (soulja Boy)," which moved 2.7 million copies. Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" was the top download of 2006 with 1.9 million, while Weezer's "Beverly Hills" was the digital king in 2005 with 961,000.

Not one track sold more than 500,000 digital units in 2004, but 114 did in 2007, almost double the 61 tracks that crossed that threshold in 2006. Meanwhile, 36 tracks passed the 1 million sales mark, more than double the 17 in 2006.

All these records set in 2007 bode well for 2008 digital sales. The post-holiday spike witnessed during the past four years generally sets the tone for digital track sales in the year that follows once the volume settles down. The 6.6 million tracks sold after Christmas in 2004 carried over into the new year, with weekly sales totals averaging about 5.2 million tracks per week in January, to 9.5 million the week before Christmas 2005.

Tracks then jumped to 19.9 million after Christmas that year, and settled down to an average of 11.3 million in January 2006. Again, digital sales increased to 14.5 million the week before Christmas 2006, rising to 30.1 million the week after. The first few weeks of 2007 then saw average track sales of 19 million. This year's week after Christmas (which actually only tracked five days after Christmas) produced a robust 42.9 million tracks sold.

While SoundScan's data measures sales from such digital retailers as iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody, it does not track sales from artists' own Web sites (such as Radiohead's direct-to-fan release of "In Rainbows") or from widgets placed on artists' social networking pages (such as James Blunt's Lala widget on MySpace, which sells his 2007 album "All the Lost Souls").

Thanks for the info to Yahoo! News

Comments

[slann101]

'(such as James Blunt's Lala widget on MySpace, which sells his 2007 album "All the Lost Souls").'

hang on...he sold an album !

[Decembero]

Its kinda a shame, I hope they dont stop making singles come out on physical disks, theres just something special about having the thing physically in your hand, even if it is more expensive than buying it from iTunes. Still it lets you hear the latest singles from bands from other countries that arent popular in your own.

For example the local music shop wont have a lot of the bands you may like, so to buy their single online may be the only option, which is fine. I guess online downloading makes every band avaliable to everyone on the internet equally.

[Heat-13]

oh man this sucks...


CDs ftw

[unix]

I've got to agree with Heat-13. I still love having the physical medium and the large collection in the case on my wall.

[*powerslave*]

I agree with heat-13 and unix, Cds are sooooo awesome compared to digital downloads, allthough decembero has some fair points about them.

[jetfuel495]

unix wrote:

I've got to agree with Heat-13. I still love having the physical medium and the large collection in the case on my wall.

yeah, i pride myself in having this huge stack. plus, you get the little booklet inside the cd.

[dimebagsmygod]

I don't see the point in paying for downloads. I prefer to have the actual album in my hands. It's no brainer that sales have risen.

[WeR138]

Honestly the only time I download and pay for a song is when it's a song I want and I wouldn't buy the whole CD. If it's a band I really like, like everyone else I like to own a piece of that. But if it came dowen to it and I really wanted to start saving money on the music I buy I would pay to download a lot of the bands I listen to.

[ChazBcWarlock]

if there is a band i like i will buy there album, if i see a song i like i will download, why spend £10 on an album with one good song

[ZeRoGuY]

notice how the top songs are all like rap and shit.

cause people who like rap are retarded and think download music is awesome and PIMP sUCKA OOOOOHHH!!!!

God i hate people....

[evilgerbil666]

I would far rather download than own a cd. I live in a dorm and space is as valuable as gold. And purchasing online takes some power away from the record companies, and anything that does that is fine with me.

Viva la revolution!!

[bTOMd]

this is a surprise?

[TrasherFromHell]

The worst song gets the most downloads? WTF!

[paulish86]

wow... this is just itunes singles stuff too... think about the complete albums people get off torrent sites. (this guy)

[Lotz222]

^me and gene are gonna find you and be very very angry with you

[highwaysalmon]

Glad to hear that at least some of us buy music.

[freshtunes]

I purchase all of my music, for the most part (friends burn me cd's sometimes). Honestly, I love buying actual albums, but a lot of albums are cheaper if you buy them online. It doesn't matter as long as you are purchasing the music, and not stealing it.

[Spinal Tap]

This sucks. Most people download the best song from a band/artist. Please listen beyond their best song please people.

[Do Re Mi]

I much prefer downloading than having to go out to the store every time I want a new CD.

+1 for convenience.

[MetalBassist93]

Spinal Tap wrote:

This sucks. Most people download the best song from a band/artist. Please listen beyond their best song please people.

+1

[thedarkblues06]

"Low" by Flo Rida sold 467,000 downloads for the week, topping the 294,000 digital units of Fergie's "Fergalicious" for the same week in 2006.

This is b/s. Add a single zero to make it 4,670,000. That's about how many people downloaded it WITHOUT buying it. Music industry needs a complete overhaul, be it in rap, rock, metal, etc.

[Vantage]

" These figures highlight a banner year for individual songs as well. Setting the record for the most downloaded digital track in a year is Soulja Boy with "Crank That (soulja Boy)," which moved 2.7 million copies."

Damn, that's a lot for one song.

[ripjoestrummer]

Vantage wrote:

" These figures highlight a banner year for individual songs as well. Setting the record for the most downloaded digital track in a year is Soulja Boy with "Crank That (soulja Boy)," which moved 2.7 million copies."

Damn, that's a lot for one song.

That's especially a lot for a crappy song

[bakin]

Whenever I buy a Cd, I put it on my computer, flip through the booklet once, and never see it again. I'd rather download it for sometimes half the price and enjoy it just as much.

[zackk]

i hate mp3s, i much prefer cds

[.6.bullets.]

I've got mixed opinions on downloads.
Personally though, I much prefer purchasing an actual album. It is more expensive, but still, it's more...rewarding, in a sense. Even though I try to save my money, seeing as I don't earn all that much, I stil prefer buying CDs.
On the other hand, downloads are, as it has been stated, handy if you want to listen to one or two songs by an artist, although it's defientely better to listen beyond that, if it's a god band/singer. Although, if I'm just browsing for new bands to check out that aren't very popular, then downloads are the way I go. Then, if it's a really worthwhile group I'll buy the CD.

Truly, both have their pros and cons.

But blech...too much rap. ._. Old rap like Public Enemy was bearable, and because some of their messages had an actual purpose, it was pretty decent. But this new shit that's all about fancy cars and bling-bling is just nauseating...

[Wiland]

i only download because I'm Broke and i don't have a job(still in high school) but even if i did have a job i wouldn't wanna pay money for a cd with a few good songs and the rest are just fillers, if theres a band and i want to support them i get a t-shirt or go to there concerts. also if cd's were cheaper then i would buy more of them

[Macabre_Turtle]

If I like a band I buy clothes and concert tickets, but if I really like you I'll buy an album. I usually download illegally. My moral reasoning for this is that, if I didn't download it, I still wouldn't buy it anyway, so nobodies getting hurt.

[Nathan_393]

I hate downloading stuff from iTunes.
What the frig.
CDs for life!

Honestly it scares me that music is changing so much. There's something so awesome about holding a disc.

And why on earth would anybody buy any Soulja Boy?

[broken fusion!]

Spinal Tap wrote:

This sucks. Most people download the best song from a band/artist. Please listen beyond their best song please people.

well you know, that would be good advice if 90% of the bands out there didn't only have 1 good song to begin with

[LesPaul Larsen]

CDs may be more expensive but its nice to physically have the album. Plus the audio quality is usually better in CD format.

[LiE_iN_SiLeNcE]

**** that. i buy CD's. A CD has WAYYYY better quality sound than an Itunes song or anything else. it's worth the extra money to me

[bloodstained]

**** u all who say its rewarding to buy an album, seeing the band playing the songs off the albums, now thats rewarding, a band cant get no where if there labels gonna kick em and not even put there cds out on the shelf, though i bet the label doenst have a problem stealing 80 percent of their profits from the album sales. nothings illegal or legal anymore. its a paradox.

[bloodstained]

and everyone talking shit about the sound qaulity, u dumb mother****ers, thats up to your hi-fi system wether its gonna me crisp or crackly.

[punkrox101]

I prefer having CD's.

[losing battle]

the day i prohpeciesed about to my idoit freinds is almost here, soon the need for albulms will no longer exist, then only the catchiest most worthless songs exist,soon lyrics will all be replaced with random moaning and grunting and in the next 10 years we will all look back and believe that songs like my humps ad deep meaning by comparison because of how shitty everything else i the future.

[cmaeron grant]

Im sorry but no shit.

But cds are better

[soulphonate]

No kidding digital sales are reaching record highs. The industry is finally jumping in the game and promoted it more than ever this year. Radiohead merely promoted this, and they are not pioneers as magazines and writers would have you believe. Also, not all of you might believe this, but not everyone has the internet. The only free internet is at a library, and since when did that become a music shop?

[freedoms_stain]

Lets be honest here, the price of music is too high WHATEVER format it comes in.

factor in the cost of recording/mastering/promotion/media production etc etc then your £12 CD is £10 of pure profit. And sadly, it is NOT the recording artist who sees the majority of that money.

downloads are cheaper than CDs, making them more attractive to those of us with less money. But they still cost way more than they should.

If the music industry wants to combat piracy it has got to look at the source of the problem: They are ripping us off.

[Megadeth2011]

slann101 wrote:

'(such as James Blunt's Lala widget on MySpace, which sells his 2007 album "All the Lost Souls").'

hang on...he sold an album !

My 80 year old grandma actually bought his first CD.
A lot of stores are cutting back on CD selection because of this, which sucks for those of us who don't have and won't have internet fast enough to download music with.