US Q1 Sales: ’1989’ continues as biggest seller in 2015

Taylor Swift’s 1989 remained the biggest selling album of 2015 so far, according to official Nielsen data covering the first quarter of this year. In this period, it sold 843,000, bringing its current tally to 4.5 million. It still sells an average of 44,000 a week.

1989 has stayed in the Top 5 for 22 weeks since its release last November, joining an elite group of only 11 albums. According to Billboard, the longest running has been Adele’s 21 which stayed in the Top 5 for 39 weeks after it entered the charts on March 12, 2011.

The others were Michael Jackson’s Bad (38 weeks from September 1987), Stevie Wonder, Songs In The Key Of Life (32 weeks from October 1976), Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard soundtrack (30 weeks from December 1992), Garth Brooks’ Ropin' The Wind (29 weeks from September 1991), The Eagles’ Hotel California (26 weeks from January 1977), Backstreet Boys’ Millennium (24 weeks from June 1999), Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All (24 weeks from June 1992), Mariah Carey’s Daydream (23 weeks from October 1995), Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi (22 weeks from April 2005)and finally Usher’s Confessions (20 weeks from April 2004).

The second biggest selling album of 2015’s first quarter was Drake’s digital-only If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, which shifted 721,000 copies since its surprise February release.

The biggest selling digital track in this period, at 3.7 million units, was Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk.

Digital albums were up 2.6% in the first quarter to 28.26 million, while CDs slipped 1.6%. Vinyl sales had a huge 52.5% leap, at 2.77 million compared to 1.62 million in the first quarter of 2014.

Universal had the biggest market share at 39.4% with Sony second at 28.5%, then Warner Music Group (18.1%) and the independents (13.1%).

Last year throughout 2014, streaming was worth $1.87 billion and had caught up to digital downloads (both at 37% of market share with downloads slipping from 40% the year before), with CDs at 32%, synchronisation at 3% and ringtones and ringbacks at 1%.