In 1999 the total revenue of music sales peaked at $13.4 billion; ten years later, album sales dropped to less than half that amount. It is no secret that the music industry has changed as consumer preferences have shifted and alternative revenue streams have presented themselves. While Billboard’s top 200 album chart has long been the go-to source to gauge an artist’s success, it is slowly becoming obsolete.
“The music industry has trained people to focus on the album chart for 20 years,” head of music for CMT, Jay Frank, told the New York Times. However, BigChampagne, which measures the success of media, introduced a new kind of system called the Ultimate Chart. It ranks an artist’s position in the industry based on album sales, single sales, online streaming, and other streams of revenue.
With this system, Lil Wayne, who’s Rebirth album stands at No. 89 on the Billboard charts, ranks No. 4 on the Ultimate Chart. Although the two systems differ in this case, they also may look similar at times. For example, Eminem stands at No. 1 on both charts.
Older music consumers tend to buy albums rather than singles, which can partly explain why Susan Boyle’s debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, became the highest selling of 2009. Younger fans lean largely towards buying singles, which is why artists like Taio Cruz and Rihanna struggle on Billboard’s album chart, but still maintain popularity.
“The reliance on album sales is very 20th century,” said Cliff Chenfeld, owner of an independent New York label. Even though times have changed, claiming the No. 1 album position is still coveted.
“We still fight for the No. 1 spot,” said Lee Stimmel, executive at Epic Records. “It’s still a very important tag to have on record.”
thats what pisses me off. young people jsut buy the singles they hear and dnt even get a real sense of the damn fuckin album in the first place. therefore by not buying it they fuck up the artists sales. for all yall punk bitches out there who do that you shouldnt listen to hip hop. plain and simple. TAYLOR GANG OR MASTURBATE WITH SAND PAPER! OKKKAAAAAYYYY!!
SLOW DOWN CHAMP ITLL BE OKAY….
WTF IT FLOPPED BECAUSE LIL WAYNE IS PLAYED OUT AAND WACK AS HELL . NOBODY BUMPS THAT DUDE . NO AUTOTUNE RAPPERS ROUND HERE
you about as dumb as a dumb bot, out of this whole article that’s what you got out of it? go suck on a dick white boy.
I’m young and I never got the point of buying singles. They’re the same fucking songs played over and over and over and over again until you’re sick of them anyways.
I don’t want to hear the same shit I can on the radio in my CD player, car or MP3. I want the other music. The shit that isn’t being played a billion times.
Of course to be fair I’m the only person in my little group of friends who bought the Roots, Big Boi and Janelle Monae albums this year. So I’m a little different with musical taste with most of the people I know
It’s because most Rap “artists” know that these days, making a actual dope ALBUM is outside of their skill set. You got a million cats signed to record deals and probably 10% have actual talent. And we all know the 10% get little to no radio play. This article didn’t tell us anything new. The media and ultimately the “fans” made it acceptable to make and profit off of wack shit. How else do you explain buying singles and not albums? Especially when Target sells them shits for only $9.99.
SMH, What’s the point of this article? Is it incomplete? We already know record sells suck these days, that’s why rappers and even r&b acts are putting out singles for ep’s before they drop and actual album, this game is fucked in my opinion and the only way I can see it surviving is if it goes back to it’s ground roots the no budget days.
is alot of dope niggas out yall just making excuses to not buy shit cause yall rappers yallselves lmao
The young generation does not have a big level of diversity, and most likely a short attention span if they only buy singles. To play the whole album is to get the big picture from the artist: whether he/she has longevity and originality, or was signed to sell out and match exactly what plays on the radio to blend in with top 40.
It’s a bittersweet era for Hip Hop sales, but the “jiggy” era is officially over and done with, just like gangsta rap back in 2000. Don’t get me wrong the two share some relevance in the game today but it’s not as sought out and damn near worshiped like back in the days (i.e. Dr. Dre era, Puffy era). Change is being made… it’s all on the artist to make that difference, not come up with excuses on why he isn’t selling or marketing himself.
Young cats buy singles because they hear it on the radio so it must be hot. Plus if that joint is the only one their people play why be different. Right?
I agree with “UP NORTH”. When you have 90% of cats with no talent, and who can only make maybe one dope single why buy the album?
Lables have created this issue: Sign wack cats eventually you gets no money.
Wayne has been terrible since day one, however, radio and the music cycle made all this kids call him dope. He is no different than Soulja boy, Wacka Flacka Flame etc.
They are disposable acts with disposable music. They do not make classic’s.
Its about time this has happened. Real heads have complained about this for years and now the truth rears its true but ugly head.
People want talent not shit……
You Smokin Dope fam, how can you say that Lil Waynes like Soulja boy, and Waka Flocka? Lil Wayne is 10 times better then them, and he has fell off a little. Listen to Waynes Music around the Carter 1 and 2 and all those Mixtapes, when he was Hungry, and he was puttin out some of the Best Music and Freestyles. Songs like “Birdman Jr” “Tha Mobb” “OH No” “Go D.J” “Money on My Mind”! then the Mixtapes, the drought 3 and others. Dude you no nothin about Lil Wayne’s Music, thats why you speak that foolishness!
PopThaDon…you are right. There are alot of dope cats rappin: Term, Saigon, Little Brother, Skyzoo…etc.
However, these are underground cats. Underground. This used to be an ok word, but somehow it now means Old School or simply played out.
The difference…at least with underground cats they are all different, bring new styles, different views and mostly hot beats and different music.
All these commercially played cats..same beats..same played out drum rolls, same rims, tims, ho’s.
Think about it…how many joints got kids yelling…..hey….ho….hey…hey? How many run old 808 drums with snare rolls?
And they wonder why people pick singles?
Rap on the radio needs diversity, some old school, some of this new commercial garbage and some dope underground. There is enough to satisfy all of us.
Oh no way, these bullshit tv rappers are gonna have to go out and make their money performing live now? Wow, I dont give a rats ass. That’s how the undergorund has been making its loot for the past ten years now. Maybe now we might start hearing some better music in the media now that these dudes have to brush up on their skills
thats because they think hip hop is radio I dont even listen to the radio anymore i download the tapes and buy the albums hip hop supporter
everybody i listen to making good music so who give a fuck what yall think
there was an artile on dx a while back that had to do with this, singles killing album sales… actually, i believe it had a little to do with cds killing album sales sincce alot of releases were meant to be listened to from start to finsih (which is why i believe many more artists are going for the concept album more and more)… but rarely does the radio actually pick the best song on the album to be played on the radio… they play the most infectious thing while targeting a female demographic since the guys wont give a shit as long as the girl is shaking her ass… yes, this means that some rappers will have to go tour to make up that extra $$, but when i buy a cd,, im paying for production… ever seen jeezy in concert? yes, the building is juiced and the crowd is rowdy as hell, but he does half the songs (lazily) and just holds the mic over the crowd for the rest while he blazes with his entourage… but i will buy any jeezy cd week 1 because the boy knows his beats, and his songs are always well constructed… still a hip-hop supporter and will be for life
Rebirth flopped because it sucked in all aspects, plain and simple… eminem was the only reason there was one good song
Yeah but “Drop the World” wasn’t even featured on the album? D:
Took them a while to figure that one out about Susan Boyle and Rihanna….
Remember too that people can buy songs from their cell phones, or from a computer any second of the day. Most people don’t go to the store on that first day anymore. Maybe even the first week, so by the time they see that album on the shelf at Target, they have no idea what to expect, so they don’t buy it, despite the fact it’s on sale. Blame the labels for not promoting their shit. Music isn’t like movies. It needs alot more strategy behind it if the bottom line is expected to be met.
let me tell you why everybody buys singles.BECAUSE people don’t care about your wack ass album , everybody wants that SONGG to bump on their ride and on their iPod and after 2 weeks IT DIES. wayne’s album flopped because it sucked , because nobody cared , if lil wayne made a video for drop the world before the album everybody would buy it!