THE DEPRESSING STATE OF THE RECORD INDUSTRY

The sales of recorded music are in as bleak a state as ever, and this week’s Soundscan charts paint the picture. The screenshot at left is from the Top 25 of this week’s charts; the column in the middle is the percentage each album dropped from last week to this week. Excepting the Total Club Hits compilation which debuted at #16 (the “999%” entry you see), you have to go all the way down to #52 to find an album that actually increased sales from week to week.

The “Hard Music” charts tell the same story. Theory of a Deadman are up 12% and Apocalyptica are up 6% week over week, while Bon Jovi’s Crossroads jumped an inexplicable 135% (whether the latter should be considered “hard music” is an entirely different debate). Outside of those you’ve got to go all the way down to Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits at #43 — up a whole 11% and shifting an astounding 2,563 units last week — to find a record making positive headway.

What. The. Fuck! Are we seeing the typical post-holiday doldrums or overall industry decline? Either way, those are some fucking depressing numbers.

-VN