U.S. Album Sales Fell 9.5% in 2007
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Album sales in the U.S. plunged 9.5 percent last year from 2006, as the recording industry had another weak year despite a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks.
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A swing to growth in U.S. album sales  and surging consumption of music on DVD helped slow the decline  in first-half global sales of recorded music, the trade body  for the world's largest record companies said on Thursday.
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Sales at retailers surprisingly  dropped 0.9 percent in June, the biggest decline in almost two  years, as car and gasoline sales fell, a government report  showed on Friday.
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In a slow week for the Billboard chart, Alicia Keys reached No. 2 with 112,000 sales of âAs I Amâ (J); Mary J. Blige moved 89,000 of âGrowing Painsâ (Geffen) to reach No. 3; âNow Thatâs What I Call Music!â Vol. 26 is at No. 4 with 54,000; and the 18-year-old country singer Taylor Swift rose three spots to No. 5, though sales of her self-titled album, on the Big Machine label, dropped 39 percent last week to 47,000, Nielsen SoundScan reported. Radiohead reached No. 1 with the conventional release of âIn Rainbows,â through the ATO label, on CD and other formats. The indie-rock âJunoâ soundtrack (Rhino), popular online, opened at No. 8 with 38,000.
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Sales of physical and digital albums tumbled to 500.5 million units, as the music industry was pillaged by piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment like videogames.
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Sales at Apple's online music shop iTunes Music Store dropped off dramatically in the first six months of 2006, according to market research firm Forrester.
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Sales of music downloads in the final week of 2007 are twice the total recorded in the same period last year.
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U.S. sales of digital music albums  grew by 60 percent in the first six months of 2007 but failed  to offset the rapid sales decline of compact discs, according  to data from Nielsen SoundScan.
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2007 was a year of duality for music. While the industry continued to tank, it was quietly a very good year for rock 'n' roll and indie music.
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After painfully slow sales last month, the music industry finally has a hit: âSleep Through the Staticâ (Brushfire), by Jack Johnson, above, sold 375,000 copies last week â more than six times the sales of the top album the week before â to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart. It set a record for the most digital sales in a single week, with 139,000 copies, or 37 percent of its total, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In a week busy with high-profile releases, Sheryl Crowâs âDetoursâ (A&M) opened at No. 2 with 92,000 sales; Lenny Kravitz moved 73,000 copies of âIt Is Time for a Love Revolutionâ (Virgin) to bow at No. 4; and K. D. Lang is No. 8 with her new âWatershedâ (Nonesuch), selling 41,000. Last weekâs No. 1, Alicia Keysâs âAs I Amâ (J), dropped two spots with 80,000. Any sales bumps after last Sundayâs Grammy Awards would be reflected in next weekâs chart.
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Concern about the US housing market returns as a key survey shows sales have fallen to a near five-year low.
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So far 2008 has not been a good year for music sales. This week Alicia Keys, below, stays atop the Billboard chart with âAs I Amâ (J), but the number of copies that CD sold is barely above the historic low for a No. 1 album. Nielsen SoundScan reported that 61,000 copies of the album sold last week; the least number of weekly sales for No. 1 is 60,000, set by the âDreamgirlsâ soundtrack a year ago. (The numbers are rounded.) This week the âJunoâ soundtrack (Rhino) is at No. 2 with 58,000, Mary J. Bligeâs âGrowing Painsâ (Geffen) is No. 3 with 52,000, and Radioheadâs âIn Rainbowsâ (ATO) is next with 46,000. The R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn opens at No. 5 with 45,000 sales of âLove Behind the Melodyâ (J) and John Legendâs new âLive From Philadelphia,â available only through Target, reached No. 7 with 33,000.
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U.S. retailers posted weak sales growth in December, as snow storms, discounts and economic uncertainty conspired to make the 2007 holiday shopping season the worst in 5 years.
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Another year, another downward turn for the record business. So what will the industry do?
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Ford Motor Co  on Thursday posted a 9 percent decline in U.S. sales for December.
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The holiday mood at independent music retailers is one of cautious optimism, despite Nielsen SoundScan numbers showing that overall sales at U.S. indie merchants were down 7.1% from last year as of Nov. 28.
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( in paragraph nine group sales in North America has been corrected to "slipped 0.5 percent to 530,630." In paragraph 10 the year has been corrected to 2009)