Economic activity related to selling records through record shops or online music stores
"Album sales" redirects here. For the Billboard chart, see Top Album Sales.
A Virgin Megastore in Brisbane, Australia in 2007
Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (albums, singles, or music videos) through physical record shops or digital music stores.[1][2][3] Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $64 on records, achieving $40 billion in sales of recorded music.[4][5] Sales continued declining in the 21st century.[6][7] The collapse of record sales also made artists rely on touring for most of their income.[8] By 2019, record sales accounted for less than half of global recorded music revenue, overtaken by streaming.[9] Following the inclusion of streaming into record charts in the mid-2010s, record sales are also referred to as traditional sales or pure sales.[10][11][12]
According to Guinness World Records, Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album in history, with an estimated 66 million copies sold worldwide.[13] "White Christmas" (1942) performed by Bing Crosby is believed to be the best-selling single, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.[14] Although an accurate worldwide sales figure is hard to determine, it is widely acknowledged that the Beatles have sold more records than any other artist in the history of recorded music.[15][16][17][18]
^"Music Sales Measurement - Nielsen". nielsen.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
^"Albums decline but digital rises". BBC. 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
^"Record sales for 'cheap' albums". BBC News. 19 August 2003.
^Rogowsky, Mark. "The Cruel Math Behind Why Streaming Will Never Save The Music Industry". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^"The Price of Music – pakman.com". pakman.com. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^Roettgers, Janko (22 March 2016). "Streaming Overtakes Downloads, CDs as Top Music Revenue Driver". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^"IFPI Global Music Report 2016". ifpi.org. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^Sisario, Ben (22 May 2010). "With V.I.P. Pricing, Fans Buy Their Way Closer to the Band". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^Childs-Young, Laura (May 4, 2020). "IFPI issues annual Global Music Report". IFPI.
^Leight, Elias (July 10, 2018). "Why Charts Matter, and What It Means When Drake Dominates Them". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
^Espinoza, Joshua (23 May 2020). "Gunna's 'Wunna' Album Set for No. 1 Debut". Complex.
^"Eminem was the only solo artist to sell 500,000 "pure" albums in 2018". NME. January 21, 2019.
^"Best-selling album". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
^"Best-selling single". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^Porter, Eduardo (7 July 2010). "Opinion - Ringo Starr Is 70". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^"The Beatles Get Back to No. 1". E!. 22 November 2000. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^"Best-selling music act ever: The Beatles". heart.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^"A Timeline Of Opening Acts Who Became Bigger Than The Headliner". VH1. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
Recordsales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (albums, singles, or music videos) through physical record shops or digital...
The original gold and silver record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. The first silver...
section published weekly single retail sales charts from various local regions along with Top Audience Response Records in their magazine. Billboard debuted...
Sign, named after one of the new tracks they had written. Worried about sales of import copies of Happy Nation however, Davis opted to tweak the track...
their initial advance even with much lower sales numbers. On occasion, established artists, once their record contract has finished, move to an independent...
criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include recordsales, the amount of radio airplay, the number of downloads, and the amount...
vinyl. The sales of the record beat the largest sales in one week on vinyl since Nielsen started tracking vinyl sales in 1991. The salesrecord was previously...
industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital)...
replaced Jermaine when the brothers signed with Epic Records and Jermaine stayed with Motown Records. In 1983, Jermaine returned to the group, but by 1989...
increased sales of vinyl records, or gramophone records, that has been taking place in the music industry. Beginning in 2007, vinyl records experienced...
sales: since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially while live music has increased in importance. In 2011, the largest recorded...
inventory sales or other merchandise sales. Notice that only credit sales of inventory and merchandise items are recorded in the sales journal. Cash sales of...
album sales dropped 54.6% from 2001 to 2009. The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and...
to Billboard's US-based Hot 100 in that it combines physical and digital sales (as measured by Nielsen SoundScan), radio play (as measured by Broadcast...
individual record companies which service the country or region's music industry as a whole. Though all certifying bodies give awards for album sales or shipments...
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax...
2018. ABBA are among the best-selling music artists in history, with recordsales estimated to be between 150 million to 385 million sold worldwide and...
Sales taxes in the United States are taxes placed on the sale or lease of goods and services in the United States. Sales tax is governed at the state level...
Sets U.S. Retail SalesRecord in 2018". presse.porsche.de. Porsche. Retrieved 16 May 2020. "Porsche Posts Record U.S. Retail Sales in 2019". presse.porsche...
A record producer is a music recording project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles...
on a traditional recipe from France. The wine's distributor reported recordsales of £43.2 million as of March 2017. Despite being marketed as a tonic...
direct-to-consumer sales (music clubs and mail order) and other outlets. A Gold record is a song or album that sells 500,000 units (records, tapes, and compact...
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