Taylor Swift Sells Another 400K Albums– Without Her there is No Record Business

Taylor Swift sold another 400,000 albums last week. Her “1989” was number 1 again. The number 2 album– a collection of recent radio hits– sold 60,000 copies. Bette Midler finished third with 40K. The albums from 2 through 10 sold a total of 300,000. That’s 100,000 less than Swift. The rest of the top 50 was a total bust. But it did have familiar names: Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger and the Doobie Brothers. None of it sold much or was played on the radio. What the list lacks, except for Columbia’s Hozier, is a breakthrough act or acts of quality that catalyze the audience or this generation. The record business is basically out of business when the 50th best selling album moves only 7,000  copies. Spotify is fun. But if the music or the acts meant anything, Spotify wouldn’t matter. The emotional connection to the music is gone.

Here’s my single of the week, by Chris Koza (thanks to Jonathan Clarke at q104.3 for playing this on Sunday night);