The US has just suffered its worst week of album sales since the early 1990s, according to the BBC.
Katy Perry is currently at number one on the Billboard 200 after shifting 286,000 copies of her ‘Prism‘ record, but did so during a week which witnessed the lowest overall sales total since 1991. The figure of 4.5 million is the lowest recorded by Nielsen SoundScan since it began collecting such data more than two decades ago. Back in August, online streaming and what was described as a ‘lousy’ summer release schedule took the blame for the States enduring its longest consecutive run of weekly sales under the 5 million mark.
The UK has also been hit with a decline in album purchasing; 2012 saw a 10% year-on-year drop despite the massive successes of Adele‘s ‘21‘ and Emeli Sande‘s ‘Our Version Of Events‘. One positive note however is the continued resurgence in vinyl which, led by Daft Punk and Arctic Monkeys, has hit a 10-year high during 2013.