Nielsen Soundscan final totals are in. Here are the Top 10 albums and songs of 2013, as reported by Billboard Magazine. The 2013 sales tracking year began on Dec. 31, 2012 ended on Dec. 29, 2013.
Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 is the smallest selling #1 since Soundscan began tracking music sales in 1991. Last year’s top selling album was Adele’s 21 with 4.41 million sold.
Albums
- Justin Timberlake – 20/20 Experience – 2.43 million
- Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP2 – 1.73 million
- Luke Bryan – Crash My Party – 1.52 million
- Imagine Dragons – Night Visions – 1.4 million
- Bruno Mars – Orthodox Jukebox – 1.4 million
- Florida Georgia Line – Here’s to the Good Times – 1.35 million
- Drake – Nothing Was the Same – 1.34 million
- Beyonce – Beyonce – 1.3 million
- Blake Shelton – Based on a True Story – 1.11 million
- Jay Z – Magna Carta…Holy Grail – 1.1 million
Katy Perry’s Prism came at 14 selling 969,000 and is the second best selling album by a woman, behind Beyonce.
During the 52 weeks that ended Dec. 29, overall album sales in the U.S. fell by 8% to 289.41 million from 315.96 million in 2012.
Interestingly, more vinyl albums were sold than in any other year since SoundScan launched in 1991. According to Billboard, “In 2013, 6.1 million vinyl LPs were sold — up 33% compared to 2012’s haul of 4.55 million. 64% of all vinyl albums sold in 2012 were purchased at an independent music store (3% less than compared to indie stores’ share in 2012). Notably — and not surprisingly — 75% of all vinyl albums sold in 2013 were rock albums.”
The Top Selling vinyl album of 2013 was Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, selling 49,000. Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City was second with 34,000. Last year the top selling vinyl album was Jack White’s Blunderbuss with 34,000 sold.
Digital Songs
- Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines – 6.5 million
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop – 6.15 million
- Imagine Dragons – Radioactive – 5.5 million
- Florida Georgia Line – Cruise – 4.69 million
- Lorde – Royals – 4.42 million
- Katy Perry – Roar – 4.41 million
- Pink – Just Give Me a Reason – 4.32 million
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Can’t Hold Us – 4.26 milion
- Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man – 3.93 million
- Rihanna – Stay – 3.85 million
“A total of 106 songs sold more than 1 million downloads in 2013 — down from the 108 that did it in 2012 (and 112 in 2011). 38 moved 2 million in 2013 (vs. 41 in 2012 and 38 in 2011),” reports Billboard.
Also, “2013 was the first year that download sales declined. 1.26 billion songs were sold last year — down 6% compared to the record of 1.34 billion sold in 2012.”
Via Billboard.com
