Music Industry

Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 08 January 2015

After a rough year, it’s nice to see 2015 start off with some positive news.  Let’s start with Canada.

Overall sales for the first week of the year are up 3% from the same time in 2014. CD sales are flat while digital albums are up 5%. The only real blemish is the number for digital tracks, which is now 8%.

No one can punt Taylor Swift from the #1 spot on the album charts with 1989 selling 13,000 copies over the last seven days. The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack is at #2 with 7,500 copies and X from Ed Sheeran finished the week at #3 with 6,700 units.  The big digital song is “Uptown Funk” from Mark Ronson (40,000 downloads) and the most-streamed song in Canada is “Blank Space” from Ms Swift, with 1.3 million listens.

In ‘Murica, it’s 1989 at the top again with sales of 172,000 albums (or 244,000 “equivalent units,” when you use Billboard’s complicated formula of incorporating streams), followed by Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint (#2, 84,000) and Ed Sheeran (#3, 83,000).

There were no new releases over the last week but now that we’re fully-engaged in 2015, we’ll start seeing some fresh stuff next week.

All numbers courtesy Nielsen Soundscan.

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.

Alan Cross has 38035 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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