Last year alone,
physical album sales dropped 14 %, according to marketing research firm Nielsen.
The list is conspicuously lacking any female musicians, though this is likely due to the fact that Swift and Adele yanked their most recent releases from Spotify — which counts 20 million paying subscribers and 75 million users of the ad - supported version of the service — in a bid to drive up
physical album sales.
Not exact matches
Those downloads, along with
sales of
physical CDs, put Adele on track to sell 2.5 million
albums in the first week, which Nielsen measures from Friday through Thursday.
Some recording artists have refused to put their new
albums on Spotify because the amount they earn there is minuscule compared with download or
physical sales.
The Beatles are the best - selling band in history, with estimated
sales of over 800 million
physical and digital
albums worldwide.
While some artists are not happy with the music subscription - based business model, it seems to be quickly taking over, replacing methods such as
physical media and digital
album and track
sales.
The Beatles are the best - selling band in history, with estimated
sales of over 800 million
physical and digital
albums worldwide.