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Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (, singles, or music videos) through physical or digital music stores. 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.
Record sales started declining in the 21st century, which made artists rely on concert tour for most of their income. By 2019, record sales accounted for less than half of global recorded music revenue, overtaken by music streaming. Following the inclusion of streaming into record charts in the mid-2010s, record sales are also referred to as traditional sales or pure sales.
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 history. Michael Jackson's studio album Thriller (1982) remains the best-selling album in history, while "White Christmas" (1942) performed by Bing Crosby is believed to be the best-selling single.
Album sales were first reported by Billboard magazine on March 24, 1945. An album was then defined as a box containing a set of singles, such as Glenn Miller by Glenn Miller, as well as Selections from Going My Way and Merry Christmas by Bing Crosby. Technological developments in the early 20th century led to the development of the vinyl LP record as an important medium for recorded music. In 1948, Columbia Records began to bring out 33 rpm twelve-inch extended-play LPs that could play for as long as 52 minutes, or 26 minutes per side. Musical film soundtracks, jazz works, and thematic albums by singers such as Frank Sinatra quickly utilized the new longer format. Billboard launched its first regularly published weekly albums chart, Best Selling Popular Albums, on March 24, 1956.
During the 1950s and into the 1960s, 45 rpm seven-inch single sales were considered the primary market for the recording industry, while albums were a secondary market. The careers of notable rock and roll performers such as Elvis Presley were driven primarily by single sales. Album sales reached its peak in English-language popular music from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s (known as "album era") in which the album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption. Synopsis of "When Albums Ruled the World." from BBC Four's The Golden Age Of The Album series. Retrieved 5 January 2014. From the early 1980s, the CD became the dominant format for both albums and singles, due to factors such as higher audio quality, durability, ease of use, and longer playing time. In 1986, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms became the first album in history to sell over one million copies on CD.
In 2007, Record Store Day was inaugurated to bring together fans, artists, and thousands of independent across the world. The 2013 event of Record Store Day was credited with the highest U.S. vinyl sales, and the 2014 edition resulted in independent retailers recording the highest percentage of physical album sales, since the SoundScan system was introduced in 1991.
Travis Scott bundled his 2018 album Astroworld with his 28-piece merchandise line, which contributed to first-week sales exceeding 270,000 traditional units and a number-one debut on the Billboard 200.
RIAA summary by format, in million copies per year.
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. This promotional campaign caused a loss of over $3 million for the company. 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.
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