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TIRRED: BY A THIRD
of sales, the news from this a third – makes for grim reading
Q4 NO.1 ALBUMS
40 41 42 43
44 45
46 47 48
0 50k
Source for all graphics and tables: Official Charts Company
MUSE The 2nd Law: 108,536
MUMFORD & SONS Babel: 42,027 JAKE BUGG Jake Bugg: 35,785 TAYLOR SWIFT Red: 61,779
JAMES MORRISSON The Awakening: 36,411 STEPS The Ultimate Collection 34,200 NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS 122,530 COLDPLAY Mylo Xyloto: 208,343
2012 2011
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE Ceremonials: 94,050
CALVIN HARRIS 18 Months: 52,356 ROBBIE WILLIAMS Take The Crown: 83,508 ONE DIRECTION Take Me Home: 155,316
SUSAN BOYLE Someone To Watch Over Me: 72,745 MICHAEL BUBLÉ: Christmas 85,787 RIHANNA Talk That Talk: 163,819
RIHANNA Unapologetic: 99,357
OLLY MURS In Case You Didn’t Know 148,532 OLLY MURS: Right Place Right Time 126,949
100k 150k SALES Q4 TOTAL ALBUM SALES
18.7%. In the first nine months of December CD sales dropped annually by 20.8%, although the year- on-year fall has eased as the year has progressed so an 18.7% drop is actually much better than what happened in Q1 (-25.4%), Q2 (-22.7%) and Q2 (-19.1%). In all around 3.1 million fewer CD albums were
sold in the period in question compared to a year ago, while the year-on-year decline in physical sales at this point in the quarter is equivalent to what the market endured in 2011. CD’s shrinking sales are contrasted by a
continuing rise for digital albums, although the annual rate of growth in Q4 so far is only around half of what took place over the first nine months of the year. Up to the end of September the download albums market had expanded by 17.7% year-on- year, but in the first eight weeks of Q4 growth dropped to 8.5%, which may partly be explained by more sales happening physically as gift purchases and a more mainstream and therefore less digitally- savvy consumer entering the market. Although an 8.5% rise is still very encouraging,
in some weeks the digital albums market has only grown fractionally year-on-year. In chart week 43, for example, the week Taylor Swift was competing against a very strong digital start in 2011 for Mylo Xyloto, the download market lifted annually by only 0.5%, while in two other weeks so far this quarter digital growth has been below 5%. Digital sales made up 26.3% of the albums
market in the first nine weeks of the quarter, leaving physical with a 73.7% share. This compares to a physical/digital split of 78.9%/21.1% over the same period in 2011. While Mumford & Sons’ Gentlemen of the
Road/Island release Babel is the top digital title and second overall, some individual titles have exceptionally high digital sales shares. These include Decca act The Lumineers’
self-titled album, which has achieved 60.9% of its Q4 sales digitally and Alt-J’s Mercury-winning Infectious album An Awesome Wave with a 55.9% download share since the beginning of October.
0.5m 1.0m 1.5m 2.0m 2.5m 3.0m 3.5m 4.0m
0
2012 2011
ALBUM SALES CAN STILL RISE SHARPLY in Q4. You just have to look in the compilations sector to find the evidence for it. While artist album sales dropped 17.1% year-on-
year in the first nine weeks of Q4, according to Official Charts Company figures, sales of compilation releases are flying, up 7.2% with more than 260,000 extra units sold. Just as the sharpest sales decline among artist
titles is at the very top end of the market, the biggest growth experienced by compilations is among the leading titles with the Top 10 sellers during Q4 so far collectively selling around 15% more units than was managed by the equivalent releases over the same period in 2011. It is no surprise to find EMI TV/UMTV’s latest
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 -0.6% -7.6% -12.2% -18.9% -10.0% -14.8% -9.6% -18.5% -15.1%
CHART WEEK % CHANGE
Q4 SALES TO DATE (to week 48) VS LAST WEEK ARTIST ALBUMS
Q4 2012 Q4 2011
% CHANGE
14,442,754 17,431,208
–17.1%
COMPILATIONS 3,912,202 3,649,722
+7.2% TOTAL ALBUMS
18,354,956 21,080,930
–12.9%
ABOVE/LEFT No.1 albums this quarter: Taylor Swift, Robbie Williams, Olly Murs and (left) One Direction
Now offering – Now! 83 – as the quarter’s top compilations seller having sold 517,979 copies in its first two weeks. That is a fraction up (2.3%) on what the corresponding title, Now! 80, opened with in the same week in 2011, while it is directly below this where stronger year-on-year growth in the sector can be found. For example, sales of Now! 82, the fifth top compilations seller in the first nine weeks of Q4 2012, were 38.9% higher than AATW/UMTV’s Clubland 20 sold to finish in the same position 12 months ago. 2012’s Clubland 22 in 10th spot attracted
24.7% more takers than AATW/UMTV’s Monster Floorfillers 2011 which managed to have an identical ranking over the same timeframe a year ago.
200k 250k 300k
07.12.12 Music Week 15
To purchase a copy of Paul Williams’ analysis of the entire Q3 market for the reduced price of just £149, go to
musicweek.com/reports
ARTISTS V COMPILATIONS NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A RISE
Q4 TO DATE 2012 TOP ARTIST ALBUMS POS ARTIST/ TITLE / LABEL
1 ONE DIRECTION Take Me Home Syco 2 MUMFORD & SONS Babel Gentlemen of the Road/Island 3 EMELI SANDE Our Version Of Events Virgin 4 MUSE The 2nd Law Helium 3/Warner Bros 5 ROBBIE WILLIAMS Take The Crown Island 6 CALVIN HARRIS 18 Months Columbia 7 RIHANNA Unapologetic Def Jam 8 ANDRE RIEU & JOHANN STRAUSS ORC. Magic Of The Movies Decca 9 TAYLOR SWIFT Red Mercury 10 ROD STEWART Merry Christmas Baby Verve
The above shows the top-selling artist albums between chart weeks 40 and 48 2012 Source: Official Charts Company
Also boosting compilations’ numbers to the
detriment of the artist albums sector has been the Virgin-issued Swedish House Mafia title Until Now. The dance trio’s (pictured above) album is classified as a compilation because it contains remixes of tracks by other acts as well as their own material and this has meant its 142,572 sales during the first nine weeks of Q4 are added to the compilations market’s total. Now! 83 is the quarter-to-date’s top seller overall, as was Now! 80 a year ago.
CHART WEEK
1.65m 1.64m
1.62m 1.49m 1.66m 1.46m 1.61m
1.99m 2.01m
1.81m 1.89m
2.21m 2.44m 2.21m 3.43m 2.80m
3.7m 4.07m
3.45m
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