Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: June 25, 2014

VERY late this week, yes, but I needed receive the numbers until last night. I wonder why?

Let’s start in Canada where there are six debuts in the Top Ten.  Nice, but year-to-date sales are still down by 7% over 2013 with physical CDs leading the way down, declining an equal amount.  Digital album sales are soft by 8% and digital tracks by 13%.  These numbers will only get bigger as more people get on the streaming bandwagon.

The top debut of the week is Ultraviolence by Lana Dey Rey, moving 21,000 copies, good for #1.  Lest we forget, Born to Die peaked at #3.

Next up is Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour at #2 with 14,000 units.  Linkin Park’s Hunting Party pulled up in third spot with 12,000 copies.  After that, we have Deadmau5’s While (1<2) (#5, 5,700 copies), Swollen Members‘ Brand New Day (4,200) and A Town Called Paradise by Tiesto (#9, 3,800).

The biggest download in the country is “Fancy” from Iggy Azalea with another 20,000 in sales.

On the American side of the ledger, there are also six debuts in the Top 10 but the year-to-date sales figures remain dismal:  Overall sales are down 17%; physical CDs are at -20%; digital albums are down 12%; and digital tracks are down by 13%.

Lana Del Rey is at #1 with 182,000 copies of Ultraviolence followed by Sam Smith (#2, 166,000), Linkin Park (#3, 110,000), Willie Nelson’s Band of Brothers (#5,  37,000), Jennifer Lopez and AKA (#8, 33,000) and Deadmau5 (#9, 30,000).

The top download in ‘Murcia is actually from a Canadian band.  Magic!’s “Rude” sold 210,000 copies.  Finally the most-streamed song in the USA is”Fancy” by Iggy Azalea Ft. Charlie XCX.

All figures courtesy of Nielsen Soundscan.