’06 Digital Sales Totals Beat ’05 By A Landslide

Posted: December 15, 2006 in: Rap | By: Jason |

In a day and age where album sales seem to be on a slump, digital sales are jumping dramastically — at least the sale of individual tracks.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, in 2006, the sales of individually downloaded digital tracks are up more than 67% over the same period in 2005, accounting for more than 525 million digital downloads; already 173 million more than 2005's annual total.

Historically digital downloads have dramatically increased year-over-year. In 2005, digital track sales reached 353 million; 150% higher than total track sales for all of 2004. In 2004, digital download track sales broke the 100 million mark with more than 140 million digital tracks sold.

In 2006 to date, 54 tracks have sold more than 500,000 units as opposed to only 22 tracks in all of 2005. None reached that sales mark in 2004.

"It is clear that digitally downloaded music is continuing to enjoy tremendous and growing consumer acceptance," said Rob Sisco, President Nielsen Music.

Nielsen SoundScan tracks digital download sales from more than two dozen providers in the U.S. including every major digital music retailer. Nielsen SoundScan data coverage represents more than 95% of the digital music sales market.