Album Sales Continue to Decline in 2008

According to the New York Times, in the United States, total album sales, including CDs and full-album downloads, were 428 million, a 14 percent drop from 2007. Yet, the sales of individual music tracks continue to increase. In fact, just over a billion songs were downloaded, a 27 percent increase from 2007, according to data taken from Nielsen SoundScan. Analysts say that despite the growth of digital music, selling individual music tracks just isn't enough profit compared to selling full CDs. The executive vice president of Universal Music Group's digital division, eLabs, Rio Caraeff, states, "We don't focus anymore on total album sales or the sale of any one particular product as the metric of revenue or success. We look at the total consolidated revenue from dozens of revenue lines behind a given artist or project, which include digital sales, the physical business, mobile sales and licensing income." One sector where the music industry has seen an increase in profit has been in the concert business.

The biggest selling albums in 2008 were Lil Wayne's album, Tha Carter III, which sold 2.87 million copies, followed by Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, with 2.14 million. Also, country star Taylor Swift's second album, Fearless, sold 2.11 million.