U.S. album sales plunged 9.5 percent last year from 2006, continuing a downward trend for the recording industry, despite a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks, according to figures released Thursday. A total of 500.5 million albums sold as CDs, cassettes, LPs and other formats were purchased last year, down 15 percent from 2006’s unit total, said Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks point-of-purchase sales. The shortfall in album sales drops to 9.5 percent when sales of digital singles are counted as 10-track equivalent albums. About 844.2 million digital tracks sold in 2007, compared to 588.2 million in 2006,… Read more »
Josh Groban’s “Noel” led the U.S. pop album charts for a third week Wednesday, tying Elvis Presley as the record-holder for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 with a Christmas album. Now in its ninth week of release, “Noel” moved 581,000 units in the period ended December 9, according to Nielsen SoundScan, an 8% boost over the previous frame. Presley’s “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” meanwhile, ruled the charts for three weeks in 1957. Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” rose one to No. 2 with 234,000 copies, swapping places with the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden,” which sold 204,000. The… Read more »
The Grinch might be stealing Christmas from music retailers, but thanks to Josh Groban and Oprah, there’s still some singing in Whoville. For the sales week kicked off by Super Tuesday–the release date before Thanksgiving when record labels typically schedule their big guns–the figures were abnormally bad, with only one Top 10 bow and a seven-week-old album topping the charts. Still, that album, Groban’s Noël, can thank last week’s performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show for driving it past Alicia Keys and into the number one spot. Noël crowned the Billboard 200 by selling 405,000 copies for the week ended… Read more »
Pop-punk band Plain White T’s led the U.S. pop singles chart for a second week Thursday with “Hey There Delilah,” while Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” rose one to No. 2, swapping places with R&B starlet Rihanna’s former chart-topper “Umbrella.” Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” featuring Keri Hilson rose one to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, trading places with Shop Boyz’s “Party Like a Rockstar.” At No. 6, the “High School Musical 2” onslaught began as the cast single “What Time Is It” entered the chart after selling 87,000 physical singles and 31,000 downloads.… Read more »
Faced with a protracted sales slump, record labels are now tapping into the tween scene, after Walt Disney Co. has become the unlikely hitmaker of the year with chart toppers like “Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical.” “A lot of entertainment companies are trying to figure out how to replicate Disney’s formula and crack the tween code since it’s one of the market’s few sweet spots,” said entertainment lawyer Fred Goldring. After mostly ignoring tweens, kids aged 6 to 12, music labels from Sony BMG Music to Warner Music Group and EMI Group Plc are now signing or distributing tween… Read more »
We’re not even 20 seconds into the show, and Ryan Seacrest is already suggesting that we’re in for one helluva train wreck tonight. “We don’t havhe Paula! But we’ll find her, right?” This is “American Idol”? It’s the last round of semifinal performances, and nothing could be worse than Tuesday’s embarrassing men’s show . Well, I guess if they let Antonella sing for the entire episode I’d reconsider that statement. But with a group of girls this talented, even an off-night would be worth watching. And Paula’s top-of-the-show disappearing act certainly suggests that it may be chock full of potential… Read more »
When Fall Out Boy released their third full-length album, From Under the Cork Tree, no one realized just how well the LP would do. It ended up being one of the surprise breakout hits of 2005 and sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. alone – making for much less surprising first-week sales totals for the band’s follow-up effort, Infinity on High. With close to 260,000 copies flying off record store shelves last week, FOB’s Infinity on High has earned the Chicago rockers a career first: a #1 debut on Billboard ‘s albums chart – a debut one… Read more »
LOS ANGELES – U.S. album sales, which include CDs and digital albums, fell 4.9 percent in 2006 as an increasing number of consumers preferred to download individual songs from the Web, Nielsen SoundScan said on Thursday. While data from the music tracking company showed overall music unit sales rose 19.4 percent last year due to digital downloads, the growth momentum of that category also disappointed some market watchers. “Not only did year-end 2006 digital sales fall short of our expectations, more concerning is the deceleration in growth during the fourth quarter,” Richard Greenfield, an analyst with Pali Research, wrote in… Read more »
As is the nature of the content cycle, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, and now we’re waiting for what comes next. This month we say a heavy-hearted goodbye to a lot of horror and action titles across Netflix. Among the most devastating losses are Jumanji, La La Land, The Terminal, and Sausage Party. So don’t miss your chance to watch them one last time before November 1. As we bid these titles farewell, we also get a fresh new array of titles coming to the streaming behemoth across the month. Here’s everything leaving Netflix this November. Leaving November 1st – 8th:… Read more »
Indie-rock trio half•alive is entering their dazzling new era. Today, the genre mainstays announced their forthcoming third studio album, Persona. The LP is due out on November 15 via Virgin Music Group. In celebration of the announcement, the band also revealed their lead single, “Sophie’s House.” The band eloquently grooves with nostalgic bass beats and euphoric choruses, and also, of course, showcases their love for all things dance. Their new offering is proof that half•alive is here to stay and carved out their own indie niche. Vocalist Josh Taylor says, “When starting the writing process for this album, we intentionally… Read more »
