Hope you might find this interesting...

 

As you know, I've been posting YTD sales estimates for 2009. From the same spreadsheets, I have pulled together this info :

 

Pos Est.Av.Sales

1 69533

2 52726

3 42768

4 36908

5 33070

6 30068

7 27312

8 25013

9 23422

10 21369

15 14996

20 11841

25 9709

30 8263

35 7010

40 6140

45 5347

50 4738

55 4266

60 3823

65 3464

70 3145

75 2911

100 2099

125 1588

150 1291

175 1093

200 945

 

very high average for a #10 single!

you can defo see the effect the itunes top 10 effect has on the sales.

between 1093 and 945 for 25 songs :o

Here are some comparative figures from 1, 5, 10 and 15 years ago. Top 75 only though (figures from www.zobbel.de):

 

2008

 

01: 71,358

05: 23, 281

10: 15,044

20: 8,406

30: 5,663

40: 4,150

50: 3.281

75: 2,113

 

2004

 

01: 71,400

05: 18,900

10: 10,875

20: 5,550

30: 3,350

40: 2,125

50: 1,400

75: 538

 

1999

 

01: 159,100

05: 58,375

10: 33,500

20: 16,400

30: 9,675

40: 6,225

50: 4,150

75: 1,550

 

1994

 

01: 86,250

05: 32,425

10: 20,625

20: 11,575

30: 8,225

40: 5,975

50: 4,500

75: 2,075

Those historic figures are really interesting: amazing just how bad sales were in 2004.

 

Also you can see how much less top-heavy sales have become - in 1999 they were huge for the Top 10 records but the back end of the Top 75 sold less than now.

Those historic figures are really interesting: amazing just how bad sales were in 2004.

 

Also you can see how much less top-heavy sales have become - in 1999 they were huge for the Top 10 records but the back end of the Top 75 sold less than now.

Makes sense really, back then we only had what was in the top 40 availible to us, and shops like woolies and the supermarkets wouldn't sell the whole chart anyway. Now the choice is endless and readily availible 24/7. A massive leap when you just stop and think about! I would have found the concept unbelievable 10 years ago!

Here is the corresponding data for albums :

 

Pos Sales

1 61854

2 35912

3 27906

4 23015

5 20422

6 18873

7 17315

8 16292

9 15065

10 14121

15 11145

20 9141

25 7654

30 6401

35 5560

40 4905

45 4425

50 3972

55 3583

60 3278

65 3039

70 2814

75 2571

100 1973

125 1600

150 1308

175 1057

200 846

 

The most obvious difference is the far greater drop-off from 1-10.