-so the RIAA made what in 2007?

Growth In Overall Music Purchases Exceeds 14%, Digital Music Accounts for 23% of Music Purchases

Nielsen Music 2007 Year-End Music Industry Report

Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product, Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, and Nielsen RingScan, which tracks mobile ringtone purchases, have announced their 2007 U.S. year-end sales and performance monitoring data for the 52-week period January 1, 2007 through December 30, 2007.

2007 Year End Factoids:

• Music purchases in 2007 reached 1.4 Billion, the third consecutive year music sales have exceeded 1 billion; 1.2 billion (2006) vs. 1 billion (2005).
• Music sales exceeded 58.4 million in the final week of 2007, representing the biggest sales week in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was Christmas week 2006 with 47.4 million music purchases.
• Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 9.5% compared to 2006.
• Total album sales declined 15% compared to 2006.
• Consistent with the previous three years, 20% of total album sales occurred during the Holiday Season (last 6 weeks of year).

Best Seller Factoids:

• Josh Groban was the biggest selling solo artist, with sales greater than 4.8 million albums and the Eagles were the biggest selling group in 2007 with sales of 3.6 million.
• Josh Groban’s Noel was the biggest selling album of the year with 3.7 million sales. It’s the first time in the history of Nielsen SoundScan that a “seasonal/holiday” album held the top position on the year-end chart. Noel is also the first “seasonal/holiday” album to sell more than 3 million units in a year. The previous high for a “seasonal/holiday” album for a year was Kenny G’s Miracles: A Holiday Album back in 1994 which sold 2,986,000 copies.

Strata Factoids:

• Album sales at Non-Traditional music outlets experienced significant growth with sales approaching the 90 million mark. Non-traditional outlets accounted for 18% of all album sales, compared to 12% in 2006, 9% in 2005 and 5% in 2004 (4% in 2003).
• 40% of all albums purchased were at a Mass Merchant outlet compared to 41% in 2006, 40% in 2005 and 38% in 2004 (35% in 2003 and 34% in 2002).
• Chain music stores for the first time accounted for less than 40% of all album sales; 36% compared to 41% in 2006, 45% in 2005 and 48% in 2004.
• Album sales at Independent music stores remained consistent from a year ago; accounting for 6% of all album sales (7% in 2005 and 9% in 2004).

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, has announced the most played songs at radio, at video, as well as Internet music streams for 2007.