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| Country Music Wraps 2005 on Strong Note While the bulk of the music industry slumped with an across-the-board decline of 7.2 percent for music sales in 2005, Country Music finished stronger than every format except Latin, with a more modest 3.3 percent drop, according to figures released this week by Nielsen SoundScan. "As an industry we face the same challenges as all musical formats, but in 2005, we had some advantages too, " said Tammy Genovese, CMA Chief Operating Officer. "Country Music received a lot of national attention with Carrie Underwood winning 'American Idol, ' the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line' hitting movie theaters, network television specials for Kenny Chesney and Faith Hill, and of course the CMA Awards one-time visit to New York City. With all of these important factors impacting the marketplace right before our fourth quarter sales season, we were able to carry that momentum through the end of the year." In fact, sales of Top Current Country Albums were strong in the holiday sales period (the last six weeks of 2005), finishing ahead of the same period in 2004 by 8 percent, while sales of the Top 200 Current Albums fell 16 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan's annual tally. During the busiest retail week of the year (Dec. 19-25), 11 Country albums scanned more than 100, 000 units each including Carrie Underwood (400, 625); Kenny Chesney (268, 898); The Legend of Johnny Cash (177, 548); Rascal Flatts (172, 369); Faith Hill (145, 498); Trace Adkins (134, 157); Reba McEntire (124, 086); Keith Urban (122, 780); Martina McBride (121, 099); Big & Rich (119, 323); and Sugarland (117, 476). Gretchen Wilson was close behind with 98, 366. Overall, the number of albums sold in 2005 was 75.3 million down from 77.9 million in 2004, but Country's market share increased in 2005 from 11.69 to 12.7 percent. Frustrating the number watchers is the fact that Garth Brooks' box set, which was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, was not included in the Nielsen SoundScan count. The retail giant has said that more than a million copies have been sold, but estimates place that figure as high as 2.5 million. "If those numbers had been included in the final SoundScan figures, we would have ended the year on the positive side of the equation, " Genovese said. "Still, Country Music held its own during a very tumultuous period for the music industry. The creative depth of our artistic community, loyalty of our fan base and the breakthrough success of some of our bright new talent all contributed to this achievement." Contributing to those gains in 2005, was a diverse slate of performers representing the broad terrain of the format from newcomers Underwood and Sugarland to legacy artist Cash; cross-over superstar Faith Hill to one of the premiere entertainers in the industry Kenny Chesney; Toby Keith, who continued to sell strong in 2005, to trio Rascal Flatts, who broke into the upper sales ranks across all formats for the first time. The trio's album Feels Like Today sold 2, 511, 209 units in 2005, claiming the No. 7 best selling album of the year spot among all genres. "The diversity of these performers illustrates the strength and future potential of the genre, " Genovese said. "Country Music is strong as a format, when you have artists at virtually every phase of their careers selling albums at this pace." Album Sales - The Top 10 Country albums of 2005, according to Nielsen SoundScan (Dec. 28, 2005 YTD): Top 10 Country Albums (in millions) 1. Feels Like Today, Rascal Flatts 2.5 million 2. The Road & The Radio, Kenny Chesney 1.8 million 3. Be Here, Keith Urban 1.7 million 4. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood 1.6 million 5. Fireflies, Faith Hill 1.5 million 6. Twice The Speed of Life, Sugarland 1.5 million 7. Honkytonk University, Toby Keith 1.4 million 8. Here for the Party, Gretchen Wilson 1.2 million 9. Be As You Are, Kenny Chesney 1.1 million 10. Vol. 2 Greatest Hits, Toby Keith 1.0 million. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |