Overall music sales, which account for albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks, exceeded 1.5 billion units, a 10.5% increase from the previous year. Digital track sales–such as the singles on Apple’s (nasdaq: AAPL – news – people ) iTunes Store–accounted for 1 billion of those units, a 27% jump from 2007. And vinyl, surprisingly, is making a small comeback. Consumers purchased 1.8 million vinyl albums last year, a nearly 90% increase from 2007.
While it’s a good sign to labels and artists that they are able to get consumers to pay for music online, digital sales alone are not enough to sustain the industry. Instead, younger consumers are moving more toward buying digital singles instead of albums, which are more lucrative for artists and labels alike.
- Taylor Swift
- AC/DC
- Lil Wayne
- Coldplay
- Metallica
- Kid Rock
- Jonas Brothers
- Sugarland
- Nickelback
- Jack Johnson