The age of digital music has affected us all, from the creator to the consumer, and whether we are acquiring, buying, recording, sharing and/or selling it, we’ve had to rethink our approach.  Internet phenomenon’s such as itunes and Amazon have replaced the traditional record store, and the PC has replaced the traditional recording studio (sort of).  As a songwriter, recording artist and producer, I have made it a habit to watch the trends in music and technology.  2011 took an interesting an unexpected upturn with a rise in album sales, perhaps even more significant, for the first time digital music sales officially edged out physical sales.  Here are a few enlightening factoids from the latest Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report. 

2011 Year-End Factoids

Digital music sales officially overtake physical sales accounting for 50.3% of all music purchases in 2011.

Album Sales Up for the First Time Since 2004.

Best Seller Album Factoids:

Garth Brooks continues to be comfortably the best selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 68.5 million album sales; 5 million sales ahead of the Beatles.

Rihanna takes over the top spot as the biggest selling digital artist of all time with digital track sales totaling more than 47.5 million.

For the second straight year, Lady Antebellum finishes the year as the biggest selling group of 2011 with more than 2.1 million album sales.

Metallica’s self titled album remains on top as the best selling album in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 15.7 million album sales; more than 200,000 ahead of Shania Twain’s Come On Over.

Most Played and Streamed Factoids:

Katy Perry ends the year as the most played artist over the airways in 2011 with more than 1.4 million spins; edging out Bruno Mars by 17,000 spins.

Lady Gaga claimed the top spot as the most streamed artist in 2011 with more than 135 million streams.

Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” was the most streamed song and music video in 2011 with 84.9 million audio streams and 71 million video streams.

Holiday Season Factoids: (11/7 – 1/1/12).

Michael Buble’s Christmas album was also the biggest selling album during the 2011 holiday season (2.2 million sales) as well as the biggest holiday album since Josh Groban’s Noel (2007) that sold 3.7 million copies.

Vinyl Factoids:

For the fourth consecutive year, more vinyl albums were purchased than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan.

Nearly three out of every four vinyl albums purchased in 2011 were a Rock album.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Nielsen-Company-Billboard-bw-3137090198.html

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