Based on the success of her self-titled debut and her follow up album Fearless, country star Taylor Swift was the top-selling artist in 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, as more people buy music than ever. But a closer look at the industry's year-end sales numbers reveals a business in the midst of a deep shift and an uncertain future.
Overall music sales, which account for albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks, exceeded 1.5 billion units, a 10.5% increase from the previous year. Digital track sales--such as the singles on Apple's
In Pictures: The Top-Selling Musicians Of 2008
But it's the gap between sales of physical products like CDs and their digital equivalents that worries the industry. Physical album sales were down 8.5% last year, to 535 million units sold, while digital album sales were up 32%, to a relatively paltry 66 million units.
While it's a good sign to labels and artists that they are able to get consumers to pay for music online, digital sales alone are not enough to sustain the industry. Instead, younger consumers are moving more toward buying digital singles instead of albums, which are more lucrative for artists and labels alike.
The 10 top-selling artists of 2008 reflect this generational divide. Buzz artists like Katy Perry, Rihanna and Kayne West sold more than 5 million digital tracks each but do not appear on the list of the top-selling artists of the year because their fans are less likely to purchase full-length albums.
Swift, with 4 million albums sold, benefits from appealing to both younger consumers and to country fans, who are more likely to purchase full-length, physical albums. Seventies rockers AC/DC came in at No. 2, with 3.4 million albums sold, largely due to their fan base of older rockers. Exposure to new fans through a song in Rock Band 2 may have also helped drive sales.
Lil Wayne was the third top-selling artist of last year based on the strength of "Tha Carter III," which was the top-selling album of the year, selling 2.9 million units. British rock band Coldplay came in at No. 4, with 2.7 million units. Over 600,000 of those came in the form of digital albums sold via iTunes, and made "Viva La Vida" the best-selling digital album of all time.
Rock station stalwarts Metallica, Kid Rock, Nickelback and Jack Johnson also reached the top 10, at Nos. 5, 6, 9, and 10, respectively. Tween sensations the Jonas Brothers sold 2.3 million albums last year to come in at No. 8, while country artists Sugarland came in at No. 8 with 2 million albums sold.
And what about those digital sales? If buying a single online is a new measure of popularity, then the most popular song of 2008 was Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," which sold 3.4 million units. Lil Wayne's "Lollipop," Flo Rida's "Low," Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" and Colplay's "Viva La Vida" all sold over 2.9 million times and round out the top five singles.