Music Industry

Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 14 August 2014

There’s a new #1 album in Canada this week:  the awesomely retro mixtape known as the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy.  It debuted at #7 last week but with so much good word-of-mouth on the film, it leaped to the top of the charts, selling 7,300 copies, an increase of 100%.  Trivia:  It’s the second soundtrack to reach #1 this year (Frozen being the other) and it’s only one of two albums this year not to debut at #1 yet still make it to the top (the other one being–you guessed it–Frozen.)

The biggest debut in Canada this week was 1000HP by Godsmack, starting life at #2 with 6,200 units in its first week.  Sully and Co were followed by Arkells’ High Noon (#3, 5,200) and Tim Hicks’ 5:01  (#7).  The top single in the land is “Maps” from Maroon 5.

There were four debuts in the US Top 10 this week, but year-to-date album sales are still dragging badly, down 14%.  Physical CDs continue to spiral down (-19% from 2014), followed by digital albums (-11%) and digital tracks (-13%).

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack is #1 in the US, selling 109,000 copies, up a 83% from last week.  The Now 51 compilation pulled into section place with 94,000 copies followed by Godsmack at #3 (58,000). Two other albums debuted in the Top 10: Spoon’s They Want My Soul (#4, 39,000) and The Vamps at #10.

The most downloaded song in America is “All About the Bass” from Meghan Trainor and the most streamed song in the country is STILL “Fancy” from Iggy Azalea with 7.3 million listens.  That’s 13 weeks in a row, people.

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.

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