Country sales drop 24 percent, Taylor Swift tops U.S. sales
Monday, January 5, 2009 – Country music sales suffered a 24-percent drop in 2008, the second biggest decline of any genre. A total of 47.7 million country CDs were sold, compared with 62.7 million in 2007.
The brightest star for country was Taylor Swift, who was the top selling artist in the U.S. last year, racking up sales of just over 4 million units. She also had the third and sixth best selling discs in the country. "Fearless," her sophomore studio effort, has sold 2,112,000 units since its release in November 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, good for third behind Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" at almost 2.9 million units and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" at 2.14 million units. Swift's self-titled debut sold a few thousand short of 1.6 million units in 2008. "Fearless" sold 225,000 digital copies. This was the first time one artist had 2 different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.
That means that Swift's two main studio albums (she also has released a Target only CD and a holiday disc) sold almost 8 percent of all country albums sold in 2008.
Swift also was the second highest digital selling artist with almost 8.8 million units sold. Rihanna was number one with 9,941,000.
Sugarland was the only other country act to make it into the top 10 selling artists - at 8 - with 2,063,000 units sold.
Since the SoundScan era began in 1991, Garth Brooks is the number 1 selling artist at 68,143,000 units sold. George Strait is sixth with 40,619,000, Tim McGraw seventh at 37,591,000, Alan Jackson eighth at 36,520,000 and Shania Twain 10th with 33,707,000 units.
Twain's "Come On Over" remains the top selling disc of the Soundscan era with 15,473,000 units sold.
More news for Taylor Swift
CD reviews for Taylor Swift
Fearless
Taylor Swift took the county world by storm with her huge selling debut and its five hit singles. With a huge marketing push and myspace, Swift was on her way. Kind of like an Avril Lavigne for the teen female country set.
Sophomore slump? There's no indication of that. Swift once again writes her material - all 13 songs here with help sometimes from Liz Rose, Colbie Caillat and John Rich. Swift writes of what she knows about - relationships and teen love come and gone in songs speak to her fans. »»» |
Taylor Swift Limited Deluxe Edition
She plays guitar, writes her own songs and is a hit factory off the strength of her first record. Oh, and she's 17. At an age when most worry about the SATs, Swift cobbles tunes that reach right through the radio and plug into even the most padlocked-hearted listener. Whether it's the wistful remembrance of the bygone sweetheart (the big hit "Tim McGraw"), the unrequited longing for a friendship to catch fire (another hit, "Teardrops on My Guitar") or the heady »»» |
The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
Taylor Swift's Christmas offering, much like her last name, is over swiftly. There are only six songs on this short disc: two originals, a couple modern holiday tunes and two traditional favorites.
One original, "Christmas When You Were Mine," speaks of better days. It's a sad song where Swift finds it hard to find much cheer. "Merry Christmas everybody/That'll have to be something I just say this year."
"Christmas Must Be Something More" »»» |
Editorial: A fine night for Taylor Swift –
Taylor Swift's showing at the Country Music Association awards Wednesday night was no surprise. In some respects, it was invigorating to see someone who was not male and not around umpteen years like some of her male counterparts take home the biggest prize of the night, entertainer of the year. »»»
Concert Review: Radney Foster sparks a revival –
Radney Foster told fans that he came home from the University of the South one weekend early in his college career and told his parents in the wee hours of the morning that he wanted to quit college and head to Nashville to pursue a music career. His parents agreed...fortunately.
Three decades later, that resulted in Foster playing songs on this... »»»
Concert Review: Neko Case overcomes obstacles –
The opening of Neko Case's show was unusual to say the least. "I'm angry right now," said the red head. "We just had a big fight with the promoter. We're going to sing weird, but we're actually very happy to be here."
Making quite clear that she was not a happy camper, Case still channeled her musical energies... »»»
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