n incredible 81.7% of new album sales come from just 1% of new release titles, according to details released by Nielsen Soundscan this morning. “It's ridiculous," commented Nielsen executive David Bakula during the presentation at Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
But it's been that way for years, at least in the US. According to the same Nielsen dataset, the top 1% accounted for 83.3% of new album sales in 2009, and 82.8% in 2008. And, the figure was just shy of 80% in the 2005-2007 timeframe.
The story is much better in Canada, where stronger breadth and diversify exists—at least on frontline releases. In 2010, the top 1% account for 57.6% of overall sales, though previous years have also shown a lopsidedness. In 2009, the figure was 67.9%, and earlier years were mostly in the 60-percent range.
Here's a snapshot of the slide (pardon the bad lighting). For each year, the US is on the right, Canada on the left.
But it's been that way for years, at least in the US. According to the same Nielsen dataset, the top 1% accounted for 83.3% of new album sales in 2009, and 82.8% in 2008. And, the figure was just shy of 80% in the 2005-2007 timeframe.
The story is much better in Canada, where stronger breadth and diversify exists—at least on frontline releases. In 2010, the top 1% account for 57.6% of overall sales, though previous years have also shown a lopsidedness. In 2009, the figure was 67.9%, and earlier years were mostly in the 60-percent range.
Here's a snapshot of the slide (pardon the bad lighting). For each year, the US is on the right, Canada on the left.
