From Undercover

 

Digital Downloads Resurrects Singles

by Paul Cashmere

 

November 6 2006

 

Singles sales are looking healthier ever since the addition of download sales to CD sales.

 

Digital download sales account for 38% of Sandi Thom's 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker', Scissor Sisters 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing' sold 49% as a digital download, Justin Timberlake's 'SexyBack' did 35% download sales last week, Nelly Furtado's 'Maneater' sold 38% of total sales as a download and Pink's 'U + UR Hand' did around 43% of sales as a download.

 

In overall chart placement, the no. 40 physical CD sold 295 units but the no. 40 combined CD and download sold 839 units. That's 65% of the sales at no. 40 to the download vs 35% to the CD single.

 

The no. 100 CD single sold 63 units nationally but the combined CD and Digital Download for the no. 100 position was 180 units. Again, that is around 65% to the download.

 

The statistics show that while the Top 20 is doing slightly better than the download, outside of the Top 20, the physical CD single is looking fairly unhealthy.

 

With this being just early days with the combined CD and download chart, the future of the CD single looks very much like hovering on the point of extinction.

 

The CD album is fairing much better. The no. 100 album registered 544 units sold nationally this week compared to the 63 units the no. 100 single sold.

 

The no. 40 album did 1881 units compared to 295 sales of the physical single.

 

The no. 1 album sold 13151 units compared to 4554 of the no. 1 CD single.

 

 

 

LifeLight

I always firmly believe that Digital sales will not reflect true popularity of a single since people can delete the single straightaway if they don't like it. -_-

But why would they pay to download it if they don't like it?

Surely it is the same as throwing the phyiscal disc in the bin anyway?

I see this seems to becoming the norm around the world.

900 for #40 is dire !

900 for #40 is dire !

 

australia only has 20m popultion though :P

so it means that last week the sales were as follows:

 

albums:

#1 - Human Nature - DANCING IN THE STREETS: THE SONGS OF MOTOWN II : 13,151 copies

#40 - Christina Aguilera - BACK TO BASICS : 1,881 copies

#100 - ? : 544 copies

 

singles:

#1 - Sandi Thom - I WISH I WAS A PUNK ROCKER (WITH FLOWERS IN MY HAIR) : about 7,346 units (= 4,554 physicals + about 2,792 downloads)

#38 - David Guetta Vs The Egg - LOVE DON'T LET ME GO (WALKING AWAY) : ? units in total of which 295 were physical sales

#40 - Panic! At The Disco - I WRITE SINS NOT TRAGEDIES : 839 units

#100 - ? : 180 units

 

I hope I got it all right :) Thanks Lifelight for posting!

How many weeks has Sandi Thom been #1 in the Oz singles chart.

 

It must be getting on for 9 weeks?

Sandi 10 weeks

 

Shakira 9 weeks

 

Rihanna 8 weeks