Nielsen SoundScan has released its year-end numbers for music sales, and perhaps unsurprisingly, they aren’t all that great—no albums cracked the three-million-sold mark this year, with Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III almost getting there (2.874 million) and every other album in the top 10, um, not. Thanks to SoundScan’s Dec. 31-to-Dec. 28 chart year, the top single was Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” which shifted 3.42 million digital singles and bested Wayne’s “Lollipop” by some 260,000 units. Top 10s after the jump.
THE GOOD: Perhaps most intriguing to me was the number of latecomers that showed up in the album chart’s top 10: Taylor Swift’s Fearless, released Nov. 11, came in at No. 3; AC/DC’s Black Ice, released Oct. 20, ended the year at No. 5; and Beyoncé’s I Am…Sasha Fierce, which didn’t come out until a week and a half before Thanksgiving, squeaked into the No. 10 spot.
THE BAD: Album sales? Down 14%. Overall album sales, which include “track equivalent albums”? Down 8.5%. But hey, vinyl LP sales were up 89%! Of course the 1.88 million LPs sold represents about .43% of the total album picture, but just think of what this’ll mean for the heightened presence of that Animal Collective vinyl release on Tuesday!
THE WHAAA? Rihanna may have been the top-selling digital tracks artist, selling 9.941 million copies of her various radio-ready hits in single-serving format, but her album sales were nowhere near that, even with the reworking of Good Girl Gone Bad that tacked on the seemingly inescapable “Disturbia” and that Maroon 5 song that went pretty much nowhere. Maybe we can blame Adam Levine for this, since his track was the only “album-only” track on that reissue?
ALBUMS
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (2.874 million)
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2.144 million)
3. Taylor Swift, Fearless (2.112 million)
4. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (2.018 million)
5. AC/DC, Black Ice (1.915 million)
6. Taylor Swift (1.597 million)
7. Metallica, Death Magnetic (1.565 million)
8. T.I., Paper Trail (1.522 million)
9. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through the Static (1.492 million)
10. Beyoncé, I Am…Sasha Fierce, (1.459 million)
DIGITAL SONGS
1. Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love” (3.42 million)
2. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, “Lollipop” (3.161 million)
3. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low” (2.979 million)
4. Katy Perry, “I Kissed A Girl” (2.977 million)
5. Coldplay, “Viva La Vida” (2.914 million)
6. Rihanna, “Disturbia” (2.766 million)
7. T.I., “Whatever You Like” (2.682 million)
8. Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours” (2.655 million)
9. Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, “No Air” (2.612 million)
10. Pink, “So What” (2.59 million)
DIGITAL ARTISTS
1. Rihanna (9.941 million)
2. Taylor Swift (8.793 million)
3. Kanye West (6.876 million)
4. Chris Brown (6.811 million)
5. Britney Spears (6.284 million)
6. Jonas Brothers (6.058 million)
7. Coldplay (5.933 million)
8. Katy Perry (5.840 million)
9. Leona Lewis (5.027 million)
10. Jordin Sparks (4.918 million)
2008 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1.5 Billion; Growth in Overall Music Purchases Exceeds 10% [Marketwatch]
As a rihanna fan, I just had to comment because I am sick and tired of people saying that her records sales are poor because they always make these statements without putting them in context. They will compare her sales to that of beyonce’s or britney’s when both of these ladies have been in the industry for over a decade while rihanna has only been around for a little over three years. Furthermore, rihanna is a top 40 artist, in general or in recent times anyway, top 40 artists do not sell as well as successful genre artists i.e. rap, rock, country. Therefore it is not appropriate to compare her sales to that of lil’ wayne’s or taylor swift’s. A more appropriate comparison would be to compare her sales to other under-21 non-disney top 40 artists such as chris brown, jordin sparks, jesse mccartney, katy perry,etc. Compared to those acts, Rihanna actually did quite well thanks to her re-release and the additional songs. She even did better madonna, the queen of top 40 music. Now, outside the u.s. where
top 40 artists are loved and respected a whole lot more, Rihanna’s and Madonna’s albums did quite well, even outselling lil’ wayne and taylor swift. According to worldwidealbums.net (feel free to google and check it out) rihanna’s and madonna’s albums were among the top 10 best selling albums in the world for 2008.
@lovebug: thanks for the context. but don’t you think that rihanna would be better served by just releasing singles? why force the label to go through the effort of re-releasing an album for the lone purpose of tacking on extra tracks, annoying fans, etc?
I’m not sure what you mean by the statement, “Thanks to SoundScan’s Dec. 31-to-Dec. 28 chart year, the top single was Leona Lewis’ ‘Bleeding Love.’” Is it possible that two more days (or one less) would’ve changed the holder of the top slot?
@dcstatehood: Flo Rida’s “Low” broke download records in the week after Christmas last year; it sold 470,000 downloads between Dec. 24 and Dec. 30. Had the chart year been similar to the November-to-November one used by Billboard, it would have taken the crown over “Bleeding.”
[idolator.com]
Thanks, Maura for responding. Initially, I personally did not like the idea of a re-release for two reasons, (1) the album was good enough to produce many hits without adding additional songs and (2) it perpetuates the idea that there is something wrong with Rihanna’s music and she had to go and fix it. I personally feel that rihanna and her music are different and people just need some time to get used to her in the U.S. that’s all, they already love her in europe, her album has been incredibly successful there and her good girl gone bad tour was sold out and had to be extended for an additional month. However, the re-release did get her album more publicity and the album sold close to another million copies after the re-release. And I must admit that I loved the song disturbia and its video because it validated what I always knew to be true about her, she is creative, bold, not afraid to take risks and challenge the status quo. The re-release also extended the life of her album on the charts, it is one of the few albums that is still in the top 40 after being out for more than a year and disproves the idea that her music does not have lasting appeal. That said, I can see why one might not like a re-release( which I am sure was not rihanna’s idea but rather her label’s) because it is an example of corporate greed where making money is more important than preserving the integrity of an artist’s work. Why make money off just releasing singles when you can get publicity to sell more albums as well? I can only hope that as rihanna fully matures into adulthood she will demand more of a say in how her music is marketed by her label.