Music Industry

Weekly Canadian music sales and streaming stats: 21 June 2021

I was expecting more this week, if I’m honest. With anecdotes of long lines and busy stores for Record Store Day on June 12, I thought the numbers would be higher. Interesting.

Let’s compare last week’s sales with the same week a year ago.

  • Total album sales, -9.5%
  • CD sales, -8.3%
  • Digital albums, -23.3%
  • Digital tracks, -26,7%
  • Vinyl LPs, +55.6% (That’s correct)
  • On-demand audio streams, +15.0%

Here’s where the surprise comes in with the week-over-week numbers. Record Store Day fell within this period.

  • Total album sales, +0.6%
  • CD sales, +10.7%
  • Digital albums, -6.2%
  • Digital tracks, -2.4%
  • Vinyl LPs, -5.0% (See? Vinyl sales actually dropped despite Record Store Day?)
  • On-demand audio streams, +0.5% (1.954 billion streams in the country last week)

Why the drop in vinyl sales during Record Store Day week? It could be that the many indie record stores aren’t hooked up to the SoundScan system, so sales weren’t completely tabulated, but that’s just me speculating. Any other theories?

Information courtesy MRC Data.

See last weeks data here.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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