Digital streaming and the ongoing vinyl revival are both fueling Britain’s rise in music sales after more than 135million albums were sold last year. Music fans in the UK purchased the huge number of albums across all formats, including digital downloads, CDs and vinyls. The giant figure is almost a 10 per cent increase on the previous year and it is the UK’s biggest growth in music sales in two decades.
The Beatles Have The #1 And #2 Best-Selling Vinyl Albums In 2017
The Beatles finish 2017 with the top two selling vinyl LPs of the year: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (72,000 — powered in large part by the album’s deluxe anniversary reissue in 2017) and Abbey Road (66,000). The soundtrack Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is the third biggest with 62,000. Comparably, in 2016, the top three sellers were Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface (68,000), David Bowie’s Blackstar (66,000) and Adele’s 25 (58,000).
| TOP 10 SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2017 IN U.S. | |||
| Rank | Artist, Title | Sales | |
| 1 | The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | 72,000 | |
| 2 | The Beatles, Abbey Road | 66,000 | |
| 3 | Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 | 62,000 | |
| 4 | Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Divide) | 62,000 | |
| 5 | Amy Winehouse, Back to Black | 58,000 | |
| 6 | Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain (Soundtrack) | 58,000 | |
| 7 | Bob Marley and The Wailers, Legend: The Best Of… | 49,000 | |
| 8 | Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon | 54,000 | |
| 9 | Soundtrack, La La Land | 49,000 | |
| 10 | Michael Jackson, Thriller | 49,000 | |
| Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. | |||
Vinyl Sales Are Up Almost 10% In 2017
Vinyl album sales have hit another Nielsen-era record high, as the configuration sold 14.32 million (up 9 percent) in 2017 in the US. That’s up from the previous one-year high, registered in 2016 with 13.1 million. 2017 marks the 12th straight year of growth in vinyl album sales.
Vinyl LP sales represented 8.5 percent of all album sales in 2017 – up from 6.5 percent for the configuration’s share in 2016. Further, LP sales were 14 percent of all physical album sales in 2017 (a Nielsen-era record share for the format) – up from 11 percent in 2016.
Taylor Swift’s Reputation Is The US’s Biggest Album Of 2017
Taylor Swift’s Reputation tops Nielsen Music’s year-end best-selling albums list, with 1.9 million sold. This is the third time Swift has claimed the year’s top-selling album. She did it previously with her last studio effort, 1989 (2014’s best seller, with 3.66 million sold that calendar year), and Fearless (2009’s leader, with 3.22 million sold that year). 1989 and Fearless have sold a total of 6.11 million and 7.13 million copies, respectively, since their release.
Notably, in the last nine years (2009 through 2017), seven of the year-end best-sellers have been an album by either Swift or Adele.
| TOP 10 SELLING ALBUMS OF 2017 IN U.S. | |||
| Rank | Artist, Title | Sales | |
| 1 | Taylor Swift, Reputation | 1,903,000 | |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Divide) | 1,102,000 | |
| 3 | Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. | 910,000 | |
| 4 | Bruno Mars, 24K Magic | 710,000 | |
| 5 | Soundtrack, Moana | 709,000 | |
| 6 | Chris Stapleton, From A Room: Volume 1 | 658,000 | |
| 7 | P!nk, Beautiful Trauma | 628,000 | |
| 8 | Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 | 600,000 | |
| 9 | Metallica, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct | 585,000 | |
| 10 | Soundtrack, Trolls | 522,000 | |
| Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. | |||
Music Is Up 12.5% In The US In 2017
Total music consumption in 2017 in the US climbed 12.5 percent to 636.65 million units (up from 566.1 million). That figure adds together traditional album sales, track equivalent album units, and on-demand streaming equivalent album units from both video and audio streams. One track equivalent album unit is equal to 10 tracks sold. One streaming equivalent album unit is equal to 1,500 on-demand streams.
In terms of audio-only consumption (removing on-demand video streams from the equation), the gain was 10.2 percent, rising to 491.55 million units (from 446.12 million).
The R&B/hip-hop genre represented 24.5% of all music consumption in the U.S. in 2017 — the largest share of any genre and the first time R&B/hip-hop has led this measurement for a calendar year.
Ed Sheeran’s ÷ Is 2017’s Biggest Album In The US
| TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2017 IN U.S., BY TOTAL EQUIVALENT ALBUM UNITS | |||||
| Rank | Artist, Title | Total Units | Album Sales | TEA Units | SEA Units |
| 1 | Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Divide) | 2,764,000 | 1,102,000 | 581,000 | 1,081,000 |
| 2 | Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. | 2,747,000 | 910,000 | 217,000 | 1,620,000 |
| 3 | Taylor Swift, Reputation | 2,336,000 | 1,903,000 | 153,000 | 280,000 |
| 4 | Drake, More Life | 2,227,000 | 363,000 | 149,000 | 1,715,000 |
| 5 | Bruno Mars, 24K Magic | 1,626,000 | 710,000 | 320,000 | 597,000 |
| 6 | Post Malone, Stoney | 1,564,000 | 128,000 | 174,000 | 1,262,000 |
| 7 | Migos, Culture | 1,438,000 | 134,000 | 156,000 | 1,149,000 |
| 8 | The Weeknd, Starboy | 1,408,000 | 275,000 | 189,000 | 945,000 |
| 9 | Soundtrack, Moana | 1,254,000 | 709,000 | 197,000 | 348,000 |
| 10 | Khalid, American Teen | 1,220,000 | 147,000 | 124,000 | 950,000 |
| Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. | |||||
Here’s Sir Ian McKellen jamming with The Fleshtones on Andy Warhol’s MTV show
Ian McKellen reciting Shakespeare over The Fleshtones on Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes – a show that ran on MTV in 1987.
Spotify Shares Top 10 New Year’s Eve Songs Of 2017
A LOT of you played Post Malone’s rockstar on New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest days for streaming music. Spotify has shared the most popular songs used to celebrate the new year in the US and around the world. Post Malone’s “rockstar,” which has over 617 million streams on Spotify, was the most popular song played on December 31, 2017.
Top 10 tracks streamed on New Year’s Eve 2017/2018 globally
Post Malone – rockstar
Camila Cabello – Havana
Dua Lipa – New Rules
Ed Sheeran – Shape of You
Selena Gomez, Marshmello – Wolves
Eminem – River (feat. Ed Sheeran)
Maroon 5 – What Lovers Do (feat. SZA)
Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi – Despacito (Remix)
Demi Lovato, Luis Fonsi – Échame La Culpa
Ed Sheeran – Perfect
Top 10 tracks streamed on New Year’s Eve 2017/2018 in the US
Post Malone – rockstar
G-Eazy – No Limit
Post Malone – I Fall Apart
21 Savage, Cardi B – Bartier Cardi (feat. 21 Savage)
Lil Pump – Gucci Gang
G-Eazy, Halsey – Him & I (with Halsey)
Camila Cabello – Havana
Metro Boomin, Offset – Ric Flair Drip (& Metro Boomin)
Lil Uzi Vert – XO TOUR Llif3
Post Malone – Candy Paint