Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 10 December 2014
Two weeks left before Christmas. Three weeks before the end of the year. Where do things stand with the music industry?
Not in a great place, really. Year-to-date album sales are down 6% over the same period in 2013. Physical CD are down 7% year-to-date over 2013. and digital album sales are down 5% year-to-date over 2013. Digital track sales aren’t helping because they’re down 13%. Yike. Remember when digital sales were supposed to make up for any loss in physical sales?
AC/DC’s Rock Or Bust debuts at #1 in Canada with a healthy 31,000 units sold, making it their third straight chart-topping album. And most AC/DC fans still prefer physical product as only 32% of the new album’s sales come from digital. It’s also the first AC/DCalbum to be released simultaneously at physical and digital outlets.
There’s only one other Top 10 debut. Marie Dupree’s La Dans Ma Tete starts life at #10, selling 5,800 copies.
As for the digital end of things, Taylor Swift holds the top two positions on the Canadian Weekly Combined Stream Playlist, with “Blank Space” remaining at #1 with 1.5 million streams and “Shake It Off” at #2 with 870,000 streams. Meanwhile, we have Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” at #3 and–get this–Psy’s “Gangnam Style” at #4. Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” is at #5.
When it comes to digital downloads, it’s Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” with sales of 24,000.
Over in the US, Taylor Swift’s 1989 is stuck at #1 for the fifth week in a row, selling another 230,000 copies. If you’re looking for AC/DC, they pulled up in third spot with 171,000 units, substantially better than the 135,000 that was predicted last week. The only other debut in the US Top 10 comes from Mary J. Blige and her London Sessions at #8 with sales of 55,000.
Taylor Swift rules the digital download chart, too, with sales of 254,000 of “Blank Space.” The song was also streamed more than 12 million times. And Meghan Trainor isn’t doing too badly either with “All About That Bass” clocking in 10.1 million listens.
All figures courtesy Nielsen Soundscan.
