Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis Week Ending 08 Jan 2016

Ah, a brand new year. How are things looking for the first sales week 2016?

Er, not good.

Overall album sales start the year down 30% over the same week last year (when week one ended on January 4, compared to the January 7 this year).  Digital tracks are down 27%. Oh, dear.

There are no changes to the top three positions on the Canadian charts, with Adele’s 25 on top with another 23,000 units sold, boosting its overall total to 883,000. That’s seven straight weeks at #1, by the way.  Justin Bieber’s Purpose is at #2 (9.400 units) and The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind The Madness at #3 with 4,100 copies. 

There is exactly one debut in Canada: Wildfire from Rachel Platten at #7.

Finally, Justin Bieber scores has another #1 digital song from Purpose with “Love Yourself,” selling 18,000 downloads. It’s also the most-streamed song in Canada with 2.5 million listens.

Looking south, Adele is still #1 with 163,000 fresh sales of 25. There are two debuts in that Top 10 on the American album charts: Rachel Platen at #4 with sales of 29,000 and Passion’s Salvation Tide at #6 with 22,000 units.

And finally, a look at singles. Bieber’s “Love Yourself” is the top-selling digital single with 163,000 downloads. It’s also the top streamer with 19 million listens.

Next week’s charts will be very interesting. What will we see when it comes to David Bowie?

All figures courtesy Nielsen Soundscan.