Billboard just released its mid year numbers on music sales. Things aren’t so great unless you’re Justin Timberlake. Basically, everything is down, down down. First of all, physical CD sales are down 14.2 percent. Everything’s doing digital. But overall album sales are down 4.6 percent. Total sales of vinyl albums– LPs– are up 33>5 percent. But don’t get excited. They sold a total of 2.9 million copies. Digital total sales of albums are 60.8 million, up 6.3 percent. All together. sales for the first six months of 2013 are down 10 million from last– and that’s including perceived big hits like Timberlake, Macklemore & Lewsis and Bruno Mars.
Timberlake is the big story. He’s sold 2.55 million copies of the “20/20 Experience.” He’s followed, at almost at half that rate, by M&L, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Pink., Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Mumford and Sons, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line.
The other big story is streaming, which is way up and may account for the slowdown in actual sales. You get the album on your Spotify or Pandora subscription, so why buy it? Streaming is up 24%. And personally, I get it. I rely on Spotify on all my devices. I was a teenager in 1973.
Here’s the difference between music from the summer of 1973 and 2013. You will not be hearing most of this stuff in 10 years. You will be hearing the music from 1973.
And guess who’s nowhere on these lists? Justin Bieber. For all his publicity, he produces music no one buys or listens to. He gets a little spike with a release, but nothing that lasts. So if this music on these lists is disposable, what does that make his ghastly warblings?
2013 YTD Top Ten Selling Albums
TITLE/ARTIST
UNITS SOLD
1
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE / 20/20 EXPERIENCE
2,037,000
2
BRUNO MARS / UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX
985,000
3
MUMFORD & SONS / BABEL
884,000
4
BLAKE SHELTON / BASED ON A TRUE STORY
703,000
5
IMAGINE DRAGONS / NIGHT VISIONS
692,000
6
P!NK / TRUTH ABOUT LOVE
674,000
7
MACKLEMORE&RYAN LEWIS / THE HEIST
653,000
8
LUMINEERS / LUMINEERS
649,000
9
TAYLOR SWIFT / RED
616,000
10.
DAFT PUNK / RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES
614,000
