Week 61

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ChargedVT said:
Australia

ABOY #68 (#58)

By the way, I have scoured Australian chart archives from 2001 onwards and now have complete chart runs for ATYCLB, 90-00 and HTDAAB on top 100 albums...
I also have most positions for Best of 80-90 which spent 217 weeks on top 100...
If interested in these email me at Roseicapilla@hotmail.com or voice your interest here

Yes please ChargedVT, just post 'em in the 'U2 Chart/Sales Statistics' thread (if you don't mind). :wink:
 
STING2 said:


A total of 7 artist have 9 or more albums to pass the 3 million mark in the United States.

The Beatles have 17 triple platinum albums.

Elvis, THE KING has 13 triple platinum albums.

Garth Brooks has 12 triple platinum albums

Madonna, has 11 triple Platinum albums.

Mariah Carey has 10 triple Platinum albums.

Van Halen has 10 triple Platinum albums.

U2 has 9 triple platinum albums.



It appears that Led Zeppelin only has 8 albums that have passed triple platinum mark. Remember, multi-disk set albums have each disk in the set counting towards certification, so when you look at those certifications for 4 million or 5 million etc, you have to divide that number by the number of disk in each package to get the number of copies sold.

Great nugget of info there Sting. Cheers ! :wink:

ps - Spain : ABOY # 8 (# 6)
 
Hi everyone,

It's not the real subject of this thread, but what are known soundscan info about U2 ?

I have this, please complete what you can :

Boy :
October :
War : 1,406,000 dec 2005
Under A Blood Red Sky :
The Unforgettable Fire :
Wide Awake In America :
The Joshua Tree : 3,036,000 dec 2005
Rattle & Hum : 1,182,000 dec 2005
Achtung Baby : 5,337,000 march 2004
Zooropa : 2,500,000 at ??
Pop : 1,450,000 january 2001 ; 1,500,000 November 2004
The Best Of 1980-1990/The B-Sides :
The Best Of 1980-1990 : 2,696,200 to date
All That You Can't Leave Behind : 4,200,000 November 2004
The Best Of 1990-2000/The B-Sides : 487,000 at ??
The Best Of 1990-2000 : 359,272 at ???
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb : 3,001,406 to date

Total : 29,600,000 at 31/12/2005.

Addind sales of all albums, the cum is 25,704,878. So, still 3,900,000 missing for albums without any sales figure. More than 1m is for The Best Of 1980-1990/The B-Sides. Surely The Unforgettable Fire has good soundscan sales too.


Most people who decide they want the BOY album from hearing the songs on this tour will probably burn it from a friend or find it for free through the internet some how.
It's wrong ! I'm not a fan of U2, but I bought myself Boy (and War too) last week ! Despite that I have download it some times ago, I have see any of their show and I have already the Best Of 1980-1990 !
 
A last thing :

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is #48 of the year in France. I'm updating my figures in my website, every end of year I had a 8% + because in France sales of the IFOP are not calculated to get 100% like Soundscan in USA. My estimations was also a bit low for this album in France. In my website it is actually at 426k, it sold more likely about 450k.
 
MJDangerous said:
Hi everyone,

It's not the real subject of this thread, but what are known soundscan info about U2 ?

I have this, please complete what you can :

Boy :
October :
War : 1,406,000 dec 2005
Under A Blood Red Sky :
The Unforgettable Fire :
Wide Awake In America :
The Joshua Tree : 3,036,000 dec 2005
Rattle & Hum : 1,182,000 dec 2005
Achtung Baby : 5,337,000 march 2004
Zooropa : 2,500,000 at ??
Pop : 1,450,000 january 2001 ; 1,500,000 November 2004
The Best Of 1980-1990/The B-Sides :
The Best Of 1980-1990 : 2,696,200 to date
All That You Can't Leave Behind : 4,200,000 November 2004
The Best Of 1990-2000/The B-Sides : 487,000 at ??
The Best Of 1990-2000 : 359,272 at ???
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb : 3,001,406 to date

Total : 29,600,000 at 31/12/2005.

Addind sales of all albums, the cum is 25,704,878. So, still 3,900,000 missing for albums without any sales figure. More than 1m is for The Best Of 1980-1990/The B-Sides. Surely The Unforgettable Fire has good soundscan sales too.



It's wrong ! I'm not a fan of U2, but I bought myself Boy (and War too) last week ! Despite that I have download it some times ago, I have see any of their show and I have already the Best Of 1980-1990 !


Boy - 371,000
October - 349,000
War - 1,406,000
Under A Blood Red Sky - 622,000
The Unforgettable Fire - 864,000
Wide Awake In America - 192,000
The Joshua Tree - 3,036,000
Rattle And Hum - 1,182,000
Achtung Baby - 5,414,000
Zooropa - 2,327,000
Pop - 1,493,000
Best Of 80-90 (1CD) - 2,696,200
Best Of 80-90 (2CD-B-Sides) - 1,400,000
All That You Can't Leave Behind - 4,253,000
Best Of 90-00 (1CD) - 711,000
Best Of 90-00 (2CD-B-Sides) - 556,000
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb : 3,001,406

Total: 29,873,606


"as at 1st Jan 2006 U2 were the 14th best selling album artist of the Soundscan era (1991-2005) with total Soundscanned album sales of 30,026,000"

So I guess we could add another 55,000 copies to the album totals above given the new figure from 1st January 2006.



By the way, my comment about the BOY album is simply a reflection of what many if not most fans of music do these days when faced with the desire to have an older album. Many will find a way to download it for free or burn it from another person rather than purchasing it at the store.

Over the past 5 years, the number of albums sold per year has dropped 25%, and the hardest hit are catalog or older albums which, because they are more available among the general public and on the internet, are easier to obtain without having to purchase it at the store.

If the current trend continues, the number albums sold in 2010 will be half the number of albums sold in 2000 because of the internet, CD burning and other ways of obtaining music without actually buying it.
 
STING2 said:

By the way, my comment about the BOY album is simply a reflection of what many if not most fans of music do these days when faced with the desire to have an older album. Many will find a way to download it for free or burn it from another person rather than purchasing it at the store.

Over the past 5 years, the number of albums sold per year has dropped 25%, and the hardest hit are catalog or older albums which, because they are more available among the general public and on the internet, are easier to obtain without having to purchase it at the store.

If the current trend continues, the number albums sold in 2010 will be half the number of albums sold in 2000 because of the internet, CD burning and other ways of obtaining music without actually buying it.
I not agree with this. In 2005 sales are the same or even better than 2004 sales in France or in UK as well as in many other countries.

Also, catalog albums are less hit by the fall of CD sales than new CD. Dark Side Of The Moon, Back In Black or Legend sold the same number of albums per year since the debut of Soundscan. Consequently, they are even higher than usually in the year end chart. Take a look at the French Year End Chart, albums like "Louise Attaque" (best selling rock album ever in France) or "Mamugubida" which are nearly 10 years old are charted, it's a rare situation here. Three artists (Yannick Noah, Tryo, Calogero) have even 3 albums charted due to those catalog albums which are higher than the other years by far.
The reason is that by now, majors put in the market catalog albums at mid-price very often compare to 5-6 years ago. I bought Boy, War, the Best of 1980-1990 and The Joshua Tree at 3 different moment this year, each time at 8,99€ the CD, it's less than 50% of the average price of a CD. All U2 albums have spend at least 3 months in mid-price this year in France, they have surely strong catalog sales in 2005.


BTW, thanks a lot for Soundscan sales !
 
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MJDangerous said:

I not agree with this. In 2005 sales are the same or even better than 2004 sales in France or in UK as well as in many other countries.

Also, catalog albums are less hit by the fall of CD sales than new CD. Dark Side Of The Moon, Back In Black or Legend sold the same number of albums per year since the debut of Soundscan. Consequently, they are even higher than usually in the year end chart. Take a look at the French Year End Chart, albums like "Louise Attaque" (best selling rock album ever in France) or "Mamugubida" which are nearly 10 years old are charted, it's a rare situation here. Three artists (Yannick Noah, Tryo, Calogero) have even 3 albums charted due to those catalog albums which are higher than the other years by far.
The reason is that by now, majors put in the market catalog albums at mid-price very often compare to 5-6 years ago. I bought Boy, War, the Best of 1980-1990 and The Joshua Tree at 3 different moment this year, each time at 8,99€ the CD, it's less than 50% of the average price of a CD. All U2 albums have spend at least 3 months in mid-price this year in France, they have surely strong catalog sales in 2005.


BTW, thanks a lot for Soundscan sales !

Well, I have the total album sales figures for the United States in 2000 and 2005 as well as the decline each year. I also have catalog sales figures for albums back in the 1990s on weekly basis as well as current figures for catalog album sales. All of these figures show that catalog albums today sell about half of what they did 10 years. Yes, there are exceptions like Dark Side Of the Moon and a few other albums, but thats a couple of albums, not the thousands of albums that have been released since World War II. While my figures are only for the United States, the largest market in the world, I know that falling sales is a problem in several countries in Europe from what I have read at IFPI as well as attempts to sell CD's that cannot be copied.

Of course, record companies have tried cutting the price of CD's which I suppose has helped in some countries, but has not had any impact here in the United States. The fact is, when many people have the means to get something for free instead of paying for it, they are not going to be going to the store to purchase it. More and more, people are saying "why bother going to the store to buy it, when I can get it for free without leaving the house?".
 
As a matter of interest, I've never seen POP discounted here in the UK in the major chains...but almost all other U2 have been at some point. POP retails for around £17 at HMV & Virgin
 
STING2 said:


Well, I have the total album sales figures for the United States in 2000 and 2005 as well as the decline each year. I also have catalog sales figures for albums back in the 1990s on weekly basis as well as current figures for catalog album sales. All of these figures show that catalog albums today sell about half of what they did 10 years. Yes, there are exceptions like Dark Side Of the Moon and a few other albums, but thats a couple of albums, not the thousands of albums that have been released since World War II. While my figures are only for the United States, the largest market in the world, I know that falling sales is a problem in several countries in Europe from what I have read at IFPI as well as attempts to sell CD's that cannot be copied.

Of course, record companies have tried cutting the price of CD's which I suppose has helped in some countries, but has not had any impact here in the United States. The fact is, when many people have the means to get something for free instead of paying for it, they are not going to be going to the store to purchase it. More and more, people are saying "why bother going to the store to buy it, when I can get it for free without leaving the house?".
I'm not contradicting the fact that CD sales have fall during last 5 years. Of course in USA the year of 2000 was absolutly amazing with nearly 1 billion albums sold, know "only" 700 millions albums are sold by year. We are know in USA at the same level of sales that in 1990/1995.
I'm countradicting precisely 2 things : Catalog albums are suffering more than others of this drop, and the fall of CD sales will still falling year after year. Between 2004 and 2005, sales everywhere are nearly equal. Catalog sellers are figuring higher in charts than before so they are not suffering more than the others. Dark Side is not an isolate case, all best catalog sellers still selling year after year nearly the same, like Back In Black, One, Greatest Hits by Bob Seger and Queen, ABBA Gold etc...

For those who are interested in the French YEC with calculated sales, it's HERE.
 
MJDangerous said:

I'm not contradicting the fact that CD sales have fall during last 5 years. Of course in USA the year of 2000 was absolutly amazing with nearly 1 billion albums sold, know "only" 700 millions albums are sold by year. We are know in USA at the same level of sales that in 1990/1995.
I'm countradicting precisely 2 things : Catalog albums are suffering more than others of this drop, and the fall of CD sales will still falling year after year. Between 2004 and 2005, sales everywhere are nearly equal. Catalog sellers are figuring higher in charts than before so they are not suffering more than the others. Dark Side is not an isolate case, all best catalog sellers still selling year after year nearly the same, like Back In Black, One, Greatest Hits by Bob Seger and Queen, ABBA Gold etc...

For those who are interested in the French YEC with calculated sales, it's HERE.

Again, I am not talking about a couple of best selling catalog albums, I'm talking about ALL Catalog albums and the fact that these albums have declined more in sales than newer product in the United States. The top 200 catalog albums sold more in the 1990s than they do now.
 
MJDangerous said:

I not agree with this. In 2005 sales are the same or even better than 2004 sales in France or in UK as well as in many other countries.


After comparing your top 200 album sales it seems overall album sales in France have actually dropped off quite a bit : the # 200 album in ' 04 sold 69,200 whilst in # 05 it was only 42,200 & HTDAAB, at # 18 in ' 04, sold 290,000 compared with 272,200, for the # 18 album - American Idiot - in ' 05. And this is also true of Germany (source : MusicWeek). UK sales have remained the same though but then that's only approx 10% of the world market...

And so to the the world's biggest market, the USA. Well Sting's totally correct : overall album sales in ' 05 were, by quite a margin, the lowest ever - well, at least the last 10 years or so anyway (source : Billboard magazine). Also as per SoundScan overall US album sales in 2005 were 21% down on 2000 & the top 10 albums of 2005 were 50% down on the top 10 albums of 2000 (source : Billboard/Rolling Stone) :

In 2000 NSyncs No strings Attached was the # 1 best seller with 9.9m whereas in 2005 Mariah Carey's The Emancipation Of Mimi was # 1 with just 5.0m. Also, in 2000 The Beatles' One was 6th with 5.1m whereas in 2005 Coldplay's X&Y was 6th with just 2.6m....

and the same pattern emerges when comparing EOY sales for HTDAAB :

- the # 19 album sold 2.8m in 2000 compared with 2.156m for Bomb, at # 19, in 2004.
- the # 73 album in 2001 sold 1.25m compared with 828k for Bomb, at # 73, in 2005.

So HTDAAB would have actually sold 4,050,000 in the US in ' 00 + ' 01 compared with the 2,984,834 it sold in ' 04 + ' 05.... quite a big difference !
 
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thelaj said:
As a matter of interest, I've never seen POP discounted here in the UK in the major chains...but almost all other U2 have been at some point. POP retails for around £17 at HMV & Virgin

WTF !? I've seen it discounted for around £6.99 quite a few times. In fact i'm sure i saw it in HMV just the other day for £6.99 (along with JT, ATYCLB, AB etc).

They non-sensickly had Bomb available for £17 in HMV / Virgin etc for ages but they've finally got it down to £9.99, in line with January sales & Brit Awards no doubt. So expect to see some further rises on the top 200 in the following weeks. :wink:
 
STING2 said:


The top 200 catalog albums sold more in the 1990s than they do now.

Maybe this was because many people, myself included, were buying catalog album CDs to replace our vinyl/cassettes. I would not discount this transition which probably accounted for a fairly significant percentage of catalog sales in the late 80's through the mid 90's.
 
cm said:


Maybe this was because many people, myself included, were buying catalog album CDs to replace our vinyl/cassettes. I would not discount this transition which probably accounted for a fairly significant percentage of catalog sales in the late 80's through the mid 90's.

That is definitely part of it.
 
of course the RIAA thing different. Its rather a foolish idea that internet file sharing is the ONLY reason for such drops. Do they expect people to continually buy catalogue recordings even when they bought them 5-10 years ago?!
What are the catalog sales figures for the mid/early 80s like? Perhaps that would be slightly more representative
 
STING2 said:



Boy - 371,000
October - 349,000
War - 1,406,000
Under A Blood Red Sky - 622,000
The Unforgettable Fire - 864,000
Wide Awake In America - 192,000
The Joshua Tree - 3,036,000
Rattle And Hum - 1,182,000
Achtung Baby - 5,414,000
Zooropa - 2,327,000
Pop - 1,493,000
Best Of 80-90 (1CD) - 2,696,200
Best Of 80-90 (2CD-B-Sides) - 1,400,000
All That You Can't Leave Behind - 4,253,000
Best Of 90-00 (1CD) - 711,000
Best Of 90-00 (2CD-B-Sides) - 556,000
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb : 3,001,406

Total: 29,873,606


"as at 1st Jan 2006 U2 were the 14th best selling album artist of the Soundscan era (1991-2005) with total Soundscanned album sales of 30,026,000"

So I guess we could add another 55,000 copies to the album totals above given the new figure from 1st January 2006.


Bomb had actually sold 2,984,834 up to Jan 1st 2006 so basically, up to this point, there's 168,966 missing from all of those album totals (30,026,000 minus 29,857,034 = 168,966).

The logical assumption would surely be too add this to the 1,400,000 total for the B-side version given that this figure seems the most like an approximation. This would therefore give a total of 1,568,966 & mean it should now be 3xPlat !
 
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edge3 said:


After comparing your top 200 album sales it seems overall album sales in France have actually dropped off quite a bit : the # 200 album in ' 04 sold 69,200 whilst in # 05 it was only 42,200 & HTDAAB, at # 18 in ' 04, sold 290,000 compared with 272,200, for the # 18 album - American Idiot - in ' 05. And this is also true of Germany (source : MusicWeek). UK sales have remained the same though but then that's only approx 10% of the world market...

And so to the the world's biggest market, the USA. Well Sting's totally correct : overall album sales in ' 05 were, by quite a margin, the lowest ever - well, at least the last 10 years or so anyway (source : Billboard magazine). Also as per SoundScan overall US album sales in 2005 were 21% down on 2000 & the top 10 albums of 2005 were 50% down on the top 10 albums of 2000 (source : Billboard/Rolling Stone) :

In 2000 NSyncs No strings Attached was the # 1 best seller with 9.9m whereas in 2005 Mariah Carey's The Emancipation Of Mimi was # 1 with just 5.0m. Also, in 2000 The Beatles' One was 6th with 5.1m whereas in 2005 Coldplay's X&Y was 6th with just 2.6m....

and the same pattern emerges when comparing EOY sales for HTDAAB :

- the # 19 album sold 2.8m in 2000 compared with 2.156m for Bomb, at # 19, in 2004.
- the # 73 album in 2001 sold 1.25m compared with 828k for Bomb, at # 73, in 2005.

So HTDAAB would have actually sold 4,050,000 in the US in ' 00 + ' 01 compared with the 2,984,834 it sold in ' 04 + ' 05.... quite a big difference !
I don't understand even your post. Again, I'm not contradicting the fact that CD sales have fall during last 5 years. (third time)
In France, "drop" of 1% between 2004 and 2005 so yes sales still nearly the same. Also, you compare everytime sales of 2005 with sales of 2000, which is by farrrr the best selling year ever. Of course if you compare with sales of the best year ever, they will be each time lower !
All your examples are intellectual dishonesty. You compare a few album sales of 2000 to prove that sales between 2005 and 2000 have dramatically drop. You say for example that Mariah is #1 of the year with only 5 millions sold, while in 2000 the #1 sold 9,9m (you take it as a reference, the all time record!!). OK, it's true, but why you don't say that in 2001 already the #1 sold 4,81 millions, even less than in 2005 ?!

It's the same thing when you say that "and the same pattern emerges when comparing EOY sales for HTDAAB" while 2000 was the best selling year.
Why you don't compare him with years 96-97 ?

- the # 19 album sold 1.9m in 1996 compared with 2.156m for Bomb, at # 19, in 2004.
- the # 73 album in 1997 sold 0.9m compared with 828k for Bomb, at # 73, in 2005.

A few examples can say everything that you want, because you have only to take those which agree with your claiming. It's like when you say that "HTDAAB, at # 18 in ' 04, sold 290,000 compared with 272,200, for the # 18 album - American Idiot - in ' 05" ; why you don't say that "Attitudes, at # 10 in ' 04, sold 330,000 compared with 374,100, for the # 10 album - Back To Bedlam - in ' 05" ?
 
MJDangerous said:

I don't understand even your post. Again, I'm not contradicting the fact that CD sales have fall during last 5 years. (third time)
In France, "drop" of 1% between 2004 and 2005 so yes sales still nearly the same. Also, you compare everytime sales of 2005 with sales of 2000, which is by farrrr the best selling year ever. Of course if you compare with sales of the best year ever, they will be each time lower !
All your examples are intellectual dishonesty. You compare a few album sales of 2000 to prove that sales between 2005 and 2000 have dramatically drop. You say for example that Mariah is #1 of the year with only 5 millions sold, while in 2000 the #1 sold 9,9m (you take it as a reference, the all time record!!). OK, it's true, but why you don't say that in 2001 already the #1 sold 4,81 millions, even less than in 2005 ?!

It's the same thing when you say that "and the same pattern emerges when comparing EOY sales for HTDAAB" while 2000 was the best selling year.
Why you don't compare him with years 96-97 ?

- the # 19 album sold 1.9m in 1996 compared with 2.156m for Bomb, at # 19, in 2004.
- the # 73 album in 1997 sold 0.9m compared with 828k for Bomb, at # 73, in 2005.

A few examples can say everything that you want, because you have only to take those which agree with your claiming. It's like when you say that "HTDAAB, at # 18 in ' 04, sold 290,000 compared with 272,200, for the # 18 album - American Idiot - in ' 05" ; why you don't say that "Attitudes, at # 10 in ' 04, sold 330,000 compared with 374,100, for the # 10 album - Back To Bedlam - in ' 05" ?

You have to remember that in the United States, the record buying public gets larger every year, so the fact that the #19 album in 1996 sold roughly the same as the #19 album in 2004 still shows a decline in the purchase of albums buy the public on a per capita basis.

Obviously, if you went back to 1982 and compared album sales with the current sales today, and did not take into account the size of the record buying public, you would think the business is doing fantastic today which it is not. The biggest selling album in 1982 in the United States shipped 3 million copies.
 
STING2 said:


You have to remember that in the United States, the record buying public gets larger every year, so the fact that the #19 album in 1996 sold roughly the same as the #19 album in 2004 still shows a decline in the purchase of albums buy the public on a per capita basis.

Obviously, if you went back to 1982 and compared album sales with the current sales today, and did not take into account the size of the record buying public, you would think the business is doing fantastic today which it is not. The biggest selling album in 1982 in the United States shipped 3 million copies.

Exactly ! & it's still a fact that US album sales in 2005 were the lowest for the last 10 years or so (& that, obviously, includes 96/97) & by a fair percentage. They had a whole article showing this, with bar charts / graphs, in a recent issue of Billboard magazine.
 
Also MJ, you say that French album sales dropped by just 1% but of course, as you say, thats including compilations & i was here only talking about artist album sales. & clearly, it seems, 2005 artist album sales are lower than 2004 : # 200 in ' 04 = 69.200, # 200 in ' 05 = just 42,200... a 40% difference for qualification !
 
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edge3 said:


Bomb had actually sold 2,984,834 up to Jan 1st 2006 so basically, up to this point, there's 168,966 missing from all of those album totals (30,026,000 minus 29,857,034 = 168,966).

The logical assumption would surely be too add this to the 1,400,000 total for the B-side version given that this figure seems the most like an approximation. This would therefore give a total of 1,568,966 & mean it should now be 3xPlat !

.....i think i'm wrong about this though 'cos those album numbers were actually only up to Dec ' 05 - not Jan 1st ' 06. So i guess the question is how many of the missing 168,966 were sold during Dec ' 05 & to which albums ? I guess Best Of 80-90 (single version) would have sold a fair chunk of that & the most.
 
edge3 said:
Also MJ, you say that French album sales dropped by just 1% but of course, as you say, thats including compilations & i was here only talking about artist album sales. & clearly, it seems, 2005 artist album sales are lower than 2004 : # 200 in ' 04 = 69.200, # 200 in ' 05 = just 42,200... a 40% difference for qualification !
Again ???? You CAN't take sales of ONE album to claim that GLOBAL album sales have drop !

Album sales in 2004 = 83.6 millions
Album sales in 2005 = 82.9 millions

It's this really a drop ?! It's only the massive success of "The Choristes" (1,3 million sold in 2004) which do the difference, without this, sales are the same !



STING2 said:
You have to remember that in the United States, the record buying public gets larger every year, so the fact that the #19 album in 1996 sold roughly the same as the #19 album in 2004 still shows a decline in the purchase of albums buy the public on a per capita basis.

Obviously, if you went back to 1982 and compared album sales with the current sales today, and did not take into account the size of the record buying public, you would think the business is doing fantastic today which it is not. The biggest selling album in 1982 in the United States shipped 3 million copies.
In the name of what the record buying public should get larger every year ??
And yes the best selling album of 82 is shipped 3 millions, like the best selling album of 83 was shipped 20 millions in one year and a half !


edge3 said:
Exactly ! & it's still a fact that US album sales in 2005 were the lowest for the last 10 years or so (& that, obviously, includes 96/97) & by a fair percentage. They had a whole article showing this, with bar charts / graphs, in a recent issue of Billboard magazine.
Album sales in USA :

1991 : 286.500.000 units
1991 : 333.300.000 units
1992 : 407.500.000 units
1993 : 495.400.000 units
1994 : 662.100.000 units
1995 : 722.900.000 units
1996 : 778.900.000 units
1997 : 753.100.000 units
1998 : 847.000.000 units
1999 : 938.900.000 units
2000 : 942.500.000 units
2001 : 881.900.000 units
2002 : 803.300.000 units
2003 : 745.900.000 units
2004 : 766.900.000 units
2005 : Not published but between 700m and 750m.

OMG, over 700m only ? Oh dear, albums are selling nothing for sure! LOL
 
Also, when I say that catalog sales still strong, especially for U2 in France last year :

Comprehensive charts of 09 July 2005 :
#33 : How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
#79 : The Best Of 1980-1990
#90 : The Best Of 1990-2000
#143 : The Joshua Tree
#145 : Achtung Baby
#210 : All That You Can't Leave Behind
#242 : War


Comprehensive charts of 16 July 2005 :
#25 : How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
#78 : The Best Of 1980-1990
#80 : The Best Of 1990-2000
#120 : The Joshua Tree
#139 : Achtung Baby
#168 : All That You Can't Leave Behind
#204 : War

Between 100-150 albums sold over 1k by week.
 
MJDangerous said:

Again ???? You CAN't take sales of ONE album to claim that GLOBAL album sales have drop !

Album sales in 2004 = 83.6 millions
Album sales in 2005 = 82.9 millions

It's this really a drop ?! It's only the massive success of "The Choristes" (1,3 million sold in 2004) which do the difference, without this, sales are the same !




In the name of what the record buying public should get larger every year ??
And yes the best selling album of 82 is shipped 3 millions, like the best selling album of 83 was shipped 20 millions in one year and a half !



Album sales in USA :

1991 : 286.500.000 units
1991 : 333.300.000 units
1992 : 407.500.000 units
1993 : 495.400.000 units
1994 : 662.100.000 units
1995 : 722.900.000 units
1996 : 778.900.000 units
1997 : 753.100.000 units
1998 : 847.000.000 units
1999 : 938.900.000 units
2000 : 942.500.000 units
2001 : 881.900.000 units
2002 : 803.300.000 units
2003 : 745.900.000 units
2004 : 766.900.000 units
2005 : Not published but between 700m and 750m.

OMG, over 700m only ? Oh dear, albums are selling nothing for sure! LOL

"In the name of what the record buying public should get larger every year ??"

This sentence above does not make any sense, at least not in english.

Album sales in 2005 are down 21% from the year 2000. If the trend continues, it will be at 50% of the 2000 total by the year 2012. The decline is real and record stores in my area have actually gone out of business.

Also, the above figures you site are soundscan figures which only covered 40% of the market back in 1991.

The population and record buying public in the United States grows every year. Consider that in 1990, the population of the United States was 248 million and today it is 300 million. In addition, a greater percentage of the population in 2005 either buys, burns, or file shares music, than actually purchased music in 1990.

Yep, Michael Jackson sold 20 million in 1983-1984, but he was an exception. The number of albums that sold 3 million plus copies in those two years is a tiny fraction of the number of albums that sold 3 million plus copies in 1999-2000.
 
MJDangerous said:

Album sales in USA :

1991 : 286.500.000 units
1991 : 333.300.000 units
1992 : 407.500.000 units
1993 : 495.400.000 units
1994 : 662.100.000 units
1995 : 722.900.000 units
1996 : 778.900.000 units
1997 : 753.100.000 units
1998 : 847.000.000 units
1999 : 938.900.000 units
2000 : 942.500.000 units
2001 : 881.900.000 units
2002 : 803.300.000 units
2003 : 745.900.000 units
2004 : 766.900.000 units
2005 : Not published but between 700m and 750m.



These numbers are just CD sales , in 1991 cd sales=333 million. but cassette sales 360 million. TOTAL=693 million.


TOday Cassette sales= near 0

Source: riaa.com
 
STING2 said:


"In the name of what the record buying public should get larger every year ??"

This sentence above does not make any sense, at least not in english.

Album sales in 2005 are down 21% from the year 2000. If the trend continues, it will be at 50% of the 2000 total by the year 2012. The decline is real and record stores in my area have actually gone out of business.

Also, the above figures you site are soundscan figures which only covered 40% of the market back in 1991.

The population and record buying public in the United States grows every year. Consider that in 1990, the population of the United States was 248 million and today it is 300 million. In addition, a greater percentage of the population in 2005 either buys, burns, or file shares music, than actually purchased music in 1990.

Yep, Michael Jackson sold 20 million in 1983-1984, but he was an exception. The number of albums that sold 3 million plus copies in those two years is a tiny fraction of the number of albums that sold 3 million plus copies in 1999-2000.
Sorry, I'm not English, it's a french expression... I was saying that this is any reason for the record buying public should get larger every year.

Also, you compare AGAIN with sales of the best year ever, nothing wrong here ?!
Of course sales are down from 21% since 2000 but it's ridiculous to claim that they will be down from 50% in 2012 at this rate while since 3 years sales are nearly the same every year. Why you do explanation comparing 2000 with 2005, and not 1995 with 2005 or 2003 with 2005 ?

"My" annual sales in USA are not from soundscan, they are Manufacturer's unit shipment.

And yes sales of K7 was big before but total sales still lower than now.
 
MJDangerous said:

Sorry, I'm not English, it's a french expression... I was saying that this is any reason for the record buying public should get larger every year.

Also, you compare AGAIN with sales of the best year ever, nothing wrong here ?!
Of course sales are down from 21% since 2000 but it's ridiculous to claim that they will be down from 50% in 2012 at this rate while since 3 years sales are nearly the same every year. Why you do explanation comparing 2000 with 2005, and not 1995 with 2005 or 2003 with 2005 ?

"My" annual sales in USA are not from soundscan, they are Manufacturer's unit shipment.

And yes sales of K7 was big before but total sales still lower than now.

The record buying public gets larger every year, because the number of people who purchase records is constantly expanding do to population growth.

The reason I do not compare sales to 1995 is because the record buying public was smaller back then so sales in 1995 should naturally be lower than sales in 2005. The US population grows by nearly 4 million people every year. To have a 21% fall in sales from 2000, with a growing population and one of the strongest economies in the world is a serious problem for the business.
 
STING2 said:


The record buying public gets larger every year, because the number of people who purchase records is constantly expanding do to population growth.

The reason I do not compare sales to 1995 is because the record buying public was smaller back then so sales in 1995 should naturally be lower than sales in 2005. The US population grows by nearly 4 million people every year. To have a 21% fall in sales from 2000, with a growing population and one of the strongest economies in the world is a serious problem for the business.
So, what is the reason you do not compare sales to 2003 ? The record buying public was bigger than in 2000 according to yourself.

Sales have not grow year after year since the 50's, it's normal in a "changing" moment (CD > Download, like 20 years ago vynil > CD) to see a temporary decline of sales, this don't mean that any people will buy music by 2012.

Look at single sales in USA, they have massively drop, the drop of albums singles is nothing in comparaison. But where is the problem ? During 2-3 years nobody was really buying music but now a new support (downloads of course) are becoming as huge as singles before. Sales are changing, not disappearing.
 
MJDangerous said:

So, what is the reason you do not compare sales to 2003 ? The record buying public was bigger than in 2000 according to yourself.

Sales have not grow year after year since the 50's, it's normal in a "changing" moment (CD > Download, like 20 years ago vynil > CD) to see a temporary decline of sales, this don't mean that any people will buy music by 2012.

Look at single sales in USA, they have massively drop, the drop of albums singles is nothing in comparaison. But where is the problem ? During 2-3 years nobody was really buying music but now a new support (downloads of course) are becoming as huge as singles before. Sales are changing, not disappearing.

I could compare sales from 2005 to any of the years from 2000 and 2004 and the fact remains the same, sales are steadily declining because of "File sharing" and "CD Burning" and other means of obtaining music for free. When people can obtain a product for free, they are not going to then go out to the store and buy something they already have in most cases.

The only reason for declines in sales prior to 2000 was usually economic recession which effects any type of business. People buy less because they have less money. But the US economy is doing fantastic right now with only 4.7% unemployment and the record buying public is the largest in the history of the country, yet sales have steadily declined. The only reason sales went up slightly from 2003 to 2004 is because Universal Music slashed its CD prices from 18.99 to 12.99.

Single Sales are not the equalivant of album sales. The industry can't make the same amount of money from singles as they can albums. Single downloads do well right now because it only cost 1 dollar to do. Its more difficult for "file sharing" and "CD Burning" to under cut that because the cost of a single purchase is dramatically cheaper than the cost of a full album, but in time its sales will likely level off or go down just album sales are doing now.

I predict album sales in 2012 will only be 50% of what they were in 2000. The only other downturn in the music industry was in the early 1980s and the industry recovered from that and continued to steadily grow. Unless something is done to stop "file Sharing" and "CD Burning", sales of albums will continue to drop over time.
 
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