For the first time since 2004 (
Friends was still on the air, to give you an idea of just how long ago that was), album sales didn't drop. They rose, actually — a whopping three percent from 2010,
Nielsen Soundscan reports. It seems we have Adele largely to thank, with her album
21 accounting for 5.8 million copies (including digital sales from places like iTunes and Amazon) and prompting renewed interest from buyers in her debut,
19. There was also Lady Gaga, of course, whose 99 cent sale for
Born This Way on Amazon.com in May still couldn't give it the edge over Michael Buble's record. And we had Lil' Wayne, Bieber, Drake, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Mumford and Sons (?!) and Jay-Z/Kanye to round out the upper echelon. While the sale of physical CDs did dip from 2010 — marking the
first time ever digital sales beat physical —
vinyl sales saw a
steady climb for the sixth straight year. And now everybody's rich!
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
Follow Lauren Beck on Twitter @heylaurenbeck.
