Nielsen Entertainment, via Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen BDS and Billboard, has issued the 2013 year-end report for all of 2013. SoundScan measures U.S. point-of-sale of recorded music product. BDS tracks U.S. radio airplay and music streams. Both systems power many of the Billboard charts. For 2013, more albums exceeded a million unit sales than in 2012 (13 in 2013 vs. 10 in 2012). Album sales including Track Equivalent Albums (Albums + TEA) also had more million-sellers in 2013 over 2012 (24 in 2013 vs. 22 in 2012).
“Despite shifts in how music is consumed, we see continued growth in overall music consumption says David Bakula, SVP Industry Insights, Nielsen Entertainment. “With more than 118 billion streams in 2013 reported by our data providers, which is the approximate revenue equivalent of 59 million albums purchased, the industry remains vibrant as consumption continues to change and expand. 2013 was also great year for creative album release events.”
Some highlights:
–Streaming continues to be a very bright spot for the music industry, with more than 32% growth over last year, including a remarkable +103% increase in On-Demand Audio streaming.
–Justin Timberlake had the biggest album-debut week this year, when the 20/20 Experience opened with 968,000 units in its first week. 20/20 Experience is the best-selling album of the year and, coupled with the subsequent fall release of the 20/20 Experience Complete, the two titles combined to sell over 3.2 Million units in 2013.
–Adele’s 21 album becomes the first album ever to surpass 3 Million in Digital sales, and the top-selling digital album of all time.
–Mumford and Sons Sigh No More and Babel are the 2nd and 3rd biggest-selling digital albums respectively. Combined sales for these two albums are 3,010,000, exceeding 21 by only 1,000 units.
–Country music continues to be a strong seller across all formats, with Country’s share of total album sales reaching 13.8% this year (down slightly from last year’s record high of 14.1%). Country’s share of digital song sales has reached 12.6% of all songs sold and 9.6% of all digital albums sold, each of which are high water marks for the genre.
OVERALL MUSIC STREAMS
(Includes data from AOL, Cricket, MEDIANET, Rdio, rhapsody, Slacker, SPOTIFY, YOUTUBE/VEVO, Zune – IN BILLIONS)
Music streams 2013 % CHG.
118.1 Billion +32%
Overall Music Sales
(TRANSACTIONS: ALBUMS, SINGLES, MUSIC VIDEO, DIGITAL TRACKS–
| IN MILLIONS) |
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. |
| Units Sold |
1,556 |
1,661 |
-6.3% |
PHYSICAL Music Sales
(Includes CDs, Cassettes, LPs – In Millions)
|
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. |
|
| Units Sold |
172 |
198 |
-13% |
Digital Track Sales
(In Millions)
|
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. |
|
| Units Sold |
1,259 |
1,336 |
-6% |
Overall Album Sales With TEA
(Includes All Albums & Track Equivalent Albums –
In Millions)
|
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. |
|
| Units Sold |
415.3 |
450 |
-7.7% |
NOTE: TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS EQUATE RATIO OF 10 TRACKS TO 1 ALBUM
Total Album Sales
(Includes CDs, Cassettes, LPs, Digital Albums – In Millions)
|
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. |
|
| Units Sold |
289.4 |
316 |
-8% |
|
2013 |
2012 |
% Chg. | |
| CD |
165 |
193 |
-14% |
DIGITAL 118 118 0%
LP/VINYL 6.1* 4.6 +33%
ALBUM SALES: GENRE BREAKDOWN
| Format: Album |
2012 |
2013 |
% Ch (YOY Units) |
| Alternative |
16.8% |
17.4% |
-4.7% |
| Classic |
2.4% |
2.8% |
4.9% |
| Country |
14.2% |
13.8% |
-10.7% |
| Hard Music |
10.1% |
10.2% |
-8.2% |
| Jazz |
2.6% |
2.3% |
-18.6% |
| R&B |
15.9% |
17.5% |
1.2% |
| Rap |
7.8% |
8.7% |
2.2% |
| Soundtrack |
4.0% |
4.0% |
-8.4% |
| Latin |
3.1% |
2.9% |
-12.8% |
| Rock |
33.9% |
34.8% |
-5.9% |
| Electronic |
2.8% |
3.0% |
-0.3% |
DIGITAL TRACKS – GENRE BREAKDOWN
|
| Current vs. Catalog Sales (In Millions) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall Albums
Physical Albums
ALBUM SALES: GENRE BREAKDOWN
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