Music Sales Are Up, But Is It Due To The Beatles?

It seems that music sales in the U.S. are up 1.6 percent in 2011, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That doesn't seem like much, but there are some interesting facets to that number.

• Digital album sales were up 16.8 percent and single track purchases by 9.6 percent over last year.

• Catalog album sales are up 5.4 percent in 2011, which believe it or not is mainly attributed to the availability of  The Beatles’ albums on iTunes for the first time. 

• Vinyl sales were up by 37 percent in the beginning of 2011 over the same period last year. 

• Album sales at independent record stores increased by 39 percent the week of Record Store Day (April 16) from the prior week – an increase of 180,000 units – and 12.7 percent compared to 2010.

• In a bit of a surprise, rock has returned as the most popular genre of music, with 32 percent album share, while pop music represents 40 percent of all current digital tracks sold.

• Ninety-three of the 100 best selling vinyl albums in 2011 fall within the Rock or Alternative genres.

So it looks like music has made a bit of a comeback this year so far. Let's see it the good news continues.
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