A Mid-Year Report on the State of the Canadian Music Industry
We’re halfway through 2015, a good time to take the temperature of the Canadian music industry. All this data comes from Nielsen SoundScan.
Some highlights:
- The biggest-selling album of the year is 1989 from Taylor Swift.
- CD sales are down 9%.
- Digital album sales are up 10%.
- Digital tracks are down 10%.
- Vinyl sales have increased by 40% over last year.
- More than 10.5 billion songs were streamed in Canada–pretty good considering that we were very late to the streaming game.
2015 NIELSEN mid-year Music Canada Report
| On-demand MUSIC STREAMS | Includes on-demand Audio + video data from google play, XBOX, Rdio, SPOTIFY, Tidal, YOUTUBE/VEVO | ||
| 2015 AvG Weekly Volume | |||
| 2015 YTD | Q1 | Q2 | |
| Total Streams | 10.5B | 371M | 439M |
| Audio | 2.1B | 65M | 95M |
| Video | 8.4B | 306M | 344M |
| TOTAL ALBUM SALES | Includes CDs, Cassettes, Vinyl LPs, Digital Albums | ||
| 2015 | 2014 | % CHG | |
| Total UNITS | 12.3M | 12.3M | -0.3% |
| cd | 6.3M | 6.9M | -8.6% |
| digital | 5.7M | 5.2M | +9.6% |
| lp/vinyl | 207K | 148K | +39.9% |
| overall sales album with tea | TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS RATIO OF 10 TRACKS TO 1 ALBUM | ||
| 2015 | 2014 | % CHG | |
| Total album + tea | 17.4 | 17.6 | -1.1% |
| digital track sales | in millions | ||
| 2015 | 2014 | % CHG | |
| Total units | 51.6 | 53.2 | -3.0% |
| total digital music sales | Digital Albums + Track Equivalent Albums in Millions | ||
| 2015 | 2014 | % CHG | |
| Total units | 10.9 | 10.6 | +3.2% |
BILLBOARD’S TOP CHARTS FOR MID-YEAR 2015
COMPILED BY NIELSEN MUSIC
| 2015 Top Albums + TEA | |||
| Artist | Album | Sales | |
| 1 | TAYLOR SWIFT | 1989 | 172,000 |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | X | 170,000 |
| 3 | SOUNDTRACK | FIFTY SHADES OF GREY | 134,000 |
| 4 | SAM SMITH | IN THE LONELY HOUR | 132,000 |
| 5 | YOAN * | YOAN | 101,000 |
| 6 | HOZIER | HOZIER | 101,000 |
| 7 | DRAKE * | IF YOU’RE READING THIS… | 101,000 |
| 8 | MAROON 5 | V | 92,000 |
| 9 | MEGHAN TRAINOR | TITLE | 86,000 |
| 10 | MUMFORD & SONS | WILDER MIND | 84,000 |
Includes Album sales and Track Equivalent Albums at a rate of 10:1
| 2015 Top Albums | |||
| Artist | Album | Sales | |
| 1 | ED SHEERAN | X | 117,000 |
| 2 | TAYLOR SWIFT | 1989 | 111,000 |
| 3 | SAM SMITH | IN THE LONELY HOUR | 105,000 |
| 4 | YOAN * | YOAN | 100,000 |
| 5 | SOUNDTRACK | FIFTY SHADES OF GREY | 89,000 |
| 6 | DRAKE * | IF YOU’RE READING THIS, | 89,000 |
| 7 | JEAN LELOUP * | PARADIS CITY | 76,000 |
| 8 | MUMFORD & SONS | WILDER MIND | 74,000 |
| 9 | HOZIER | HOZIER | 68,000 |
| 10 | IMAGINE DRAGONS | SMOKE + MIRRORS | 66,000 |
| 2015 Radio Songs | ||||
| Artist | Album | Plays | ||
| 1 | MARK RONSON FEAT. BRUNO MARS | UPTOWN FUNK! | 69,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | THINKING OUT LOUD | 65,000 | |
| 3 | MAROON 5 | SUGAR | 65,000 | |
| 4 | TAYLOR SWIFT | STYLE | 61,000 | |
| 5 | ELLIE GOULDING | LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO | 56,000 | |
| 6 | HOZIER | TAKE ME TO CHURCH | 54,000 | |
| 7 | SHAWN MENDES * | SOMETHING BIG | 51,000 | |
| 8 | TAYLOR SWIFT | BLANK SPACE | 48,000 | |
| 9 | WALK THE MOON | SHUT UP AND DANCE | 46,000 | |
| 10 | WEEKND * | EARNED IT | 43,000 | |
Based on plays at all Canadian Formats
| 2015 Top Digital Albums | ||||
| Artist | Album | Sales | ||
| 1 | DRAKE * | IF YOU’RE READING THIS… | 77,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | X | 63,000 | |
| 3 | TAYLOR SWIFT | 1989 | 56,000 | |
| 4 | SOUNDTRACK | FIFTY SHADES OF GREY | 52,000 | |
| 5 | SAM SMITH | IN THE LONELY HOUR | 47,000 | |
| 6 | MUMFORD & SONS | WILDER MIND | 46,000 | |
| 7 | HOZIER | HOZIER | 40,000 | |
| 8 | KENDRICK LAMAR | TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY | 36,000 | |
| 9 | IMAGINE DRAGONS | SMOKE + MIRRORS | 33,000 | |
| 10 | SOUNDTRACK | GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY | 33,000 | |
| 2015 Top Digital Songs | ||||
| Artist | Album | Sales | ||
| 1 | MARK RONSON FEAT. BRUNO MARS | UPTOWN FUNK! | 526,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | THINKING OUT LOUD | 346,000 | |
| 3 | WIZ KHALIFA FEAT. CHARLIE PUTH | SEE YOU AGAIN | 315,000 | |
| 4 | MAROON 5 | SUGAR | 289,000 | |
| 5 | RIHANNA/KANYE WEST/PAUL MCCARTNEY | FOURFIVESECONDS | 289,000 | |
| 6 | HOZIER | TAKE ME TO CHURCH | 279,000 | |
| 7 | ELLIE GOULDING | LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO | 245,000 | |
| 8 | OMI | CHEERLEADER | 242,000 | |
| 9 | ANDY GRAMMER | HONEY, I’M GOOD | 204,000 | |
| 10 | WALK THE MOON | SHUT UP AND DANCE | 200,000 | |
| 2015 Top On-Demand Streams | ||||
| Artist | Album | Streams | ||
| 1 | MARK RONSON FEAT. BRUNO MARS | UPTOWN FUNK! | 38,000,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | THINKING OUT LOUT | 25,000,000 | |
| 3 | WIZ KHALIFA FEAT. CHARLIE PUTH | SEE YOU AGAIN | 23,000,000 | |
| 4 | MAROON 5 | SUGAR | 20,000,000 | |
| 5 | TAYLOR SWIFT | BLANK SPACE | 18,000,000 | |
| 6 | TAYLOR SWIFT | SHAKE IT OFF | 18,000,000 | |
| 7 | HOZIER | TAKE ME TO CHURCH | 18,000,000 | |
| 8 | ELLIE GOULDING | LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO | 17,000,000 | |
| 9 | SIA | ELASTIC HEART | 13,000,000 | |
| 10 | OMI | CHEERLEADER | 13,000,000 | |
Includes all Audio and Video on-demand streams
| 2015 Top Audio On-Demand Streams | ||||
| Artist | Album | Streams | ||
| 1 | MARK RONSON FEAT. BRUNO MARS | UPTOWN FUNK! | 4,800,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | THINKING OUT LOUD | 4,100,000 | |
| 3 | HOZIER | TAKE ME TO CHURCH | 4,000,000 | |
| 4 | WIZ KHALIFA FEAT. CHARLIE PUTH | SEE YOU AGAIN | 3,900,000 | |
| 5 | ELLIE GOULDING | LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO | 3,800,000 | |
| 6 | MAROON 5 | SUGAR | 3,700,000 | |
| 7 | FLO RIDA FEAT. SAGE THE GEMINI | G.D.F.R. | 3,500,000 | |
| 8 | OMI | CHEERLEADER | 3,500,000 | |
| 9 | MAJOR LAZER FEAT. DJ SNAKE | LEAN ON | 3,400,000 | |
| 10 | WEEKND * | EARNED IT | 3,100,000 | |
| 2015 Top Video On-Demand Streams | ||||
| Artist | Album | Streams | ||
| 1 | MARK RONSON FEAT. BRUNO MARS | UPTOWN FUNK! | 33,600,000 | |
| 2 | ED SHEERAN | THINKING OUT LOUD | 20,800,000 | |
| 3 | WIZ KHALIFA FEAT. CHARLIE PUTH | SEE YOU AGAIN | 19,100,000 | |
| 4 | TAYLOR SWIFT | BLANK SPACE | 18,000,000 | |
| 5 | TAYLOR SWIFT | SHAKE IT OFF | 17,800,000 | |
| 6 | MAROON 5 | SUGAR | 16,100,000 | |
| 7 | HOZIER | TAKE ME TO CHURCH | 13,700,000 | |
| 8 | ELLIE GOULDING | LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO | 13,000,000 | |
| 9 | PSY | GANGNAM STYLE | 12,000,000 | |
| 10 | MEGHAN TRAINOR | ALL ABOUT THAT BASS | 11,500,000 | |
*Indicates Canadian artist
As a U2 fan I am really disappointed that their name appears no where in this article. S.o.I. is a much better record than No Line.