Photo: WENN
Sales of albums in America have hit an all-time low, currently at their nadir since records began.
Billboard reports that sales of albums have dropped to less than four million a week, the lowest since sales body Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991
Last week's top-selling album in the US was Wiz Khalifa's Blacc Hollywood, which shifted just 90,000 units - well below the average first-week sales of other albums Statesside. It is reported that three other albums entered the Billboard top 10, selling an average only 31,000 units apiece.
It is widely believed that streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer are having a highly negative impact on album sales, as well as widespread piracy.
"Sales have been going in the wrong direction all year," an anonymous record label boss told Billboard. "I guess its overdue, when you look at [the growth of streaming]."
An anonymous sales executive added: ""What can I say about this week's sales? I remember when album sales fell under 10 million units and the industry reacted like it was a tragedy."
It's not all doom and gloom, though. Earlier this year, Jack White's latest album Lazaretto has become the best selling vinyl LP in 20 years. According to Billboard, with 60,000 copies sold, Lazaretto is the biggest selling vinyl album since Pearl Jam's Vitalogy in 1994.
White is no stranger to records (the Guinness World kind as well as the vinyl kind), having produced the fastest pressed-and-released vinyl in history at his Third Man Records studio earlier in the year, and scoring the biggest single-week vinyl sales since 1991 when Lazaretto first came out.
The second-biggest selling vinyl of the year, Arctic Monkeys' AM, has sold under half the copies of Lazaretto, at 29,000. Though White's record is impressive, it is worth remembering that Soundscan's vinyl tracking only goes back to 1991.
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17/11/14 - Leeds, UK - Arena
18/11/14 - Glasgow, Scotland - Hyrdro
19/11/14 - London, UK - O2 Arena
Below: The greatest record stores in the UK
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