Sales of albums — primarily CDs — plunged 12.7 percent last year when compared to 2008, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan.
Some 374 million albums were sold in the U.S. last year — a 52 percent fall since 2000. Taylor Swift’s "Fearless," which actually debuted in 2008, is tops with 3.2 million albums sold; Susan Boyle was a close second, selling 3.1 million copies in just six weeks.
Though sales of physical recordings are down, total music purchases were actually up 2.1 percent over 2008, RollingStone.com reports. Last year brought in 1.545 billion overall music sales — which factors in albums, singles, digital tracks and music videos — compared to the 1.513 billion combined in 2008.
