Record sales
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]
"Album sales" redirects here. For the Billboard chart, see Top Album Sales.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]
Financial loss[edit]
At times, labels overshipped records to retailers with too high expectations of commercial response. Records not sold to consumers may be returned to the label. In January 2008, media reported that over one million unsold copies of Robbie Williams's album Rudebox were sent to China to be crushed.[34] EMI owner Guy Hands said, "Roughly 85% of what EMI does get to release never makes a profit, in part because of the cash spent signing bands and partly due to ill-made bets on the number of CDs the market requires for particular acts."[35]
In 2011, Amazon sold an estimated 440,000 digital copies of Lady Gaga's Born This Way in its first two days at a price of 99 cents.[36] This promotional campaign caused a loss of over $3 million for the company.[37] In 2014, U2's album Songs of Innocence was released for free on iTunes. Apple's deal with U2 and the band's label, Universal Music, which stands to lose more than a million full-price sales because of the free download offer, guarantees $100 million worth of high-profile marketing for the album.[38]
Second-hand[edit]
The sale of second-hand albums and singles continues into the 2020s, with many record stores having a used section, as well as pawn shops such as CeX, Cash Generator, Cash Converters,[39] and the emergence of eBay, MusicMagpie, Alibris and other dedicated websites.[40][41]