Billboard has finally published the awaited report for music sales for 2013 with some interesting facts coming out of it.
2013 is the first time that overall digital sales decreased, ever since iTunes opened its store in the U.S. According to Nielsen Soundscan, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion units while digital album sales fell 0.1% to 117.6 million units from 2012’s total of 117.7 million in 2013. Many are attributing this to growing demand of listeners for streaming services.
Overall, album sales (both digital and physical) posted a 8.4% decline, dipping to 289.4 million units from nearly 316 million units in 2012. The CD declined 14.5% to 165.4 million units, down from 193.4 million in the prior year but interestingly, vinyl continued to grow, rising to 6 million units from the 4.55 million the format did in 2012.
While overall albums posted a 8.4% decline, albums representing Rap and R&B genre grew an impressive 1.2% to 50.7 million from 50.1 million units in 2012. The iTunes store also continues to be the favorite shopping destination for music fans as its share grew to 40.6% of total U.S album sales.
Find full report at Billboard
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