The music industry had some pop in the first six months of 2011, with album sales up for the first time since 2004.

According to Nielsen and Billboard’s Mid-year Music Industry Report, overall album sales, digital album sales, catalogue album sales and vinyl album sales all registered increases in the first half of 2011 when compared to the same period in 2010.

Digital sales, which accounted for one out of every three album purchases, were up 19% and are on pace to set a new sales record at the end of the year.

The top selling album was Adele's "21" with 2.52 million sold this year. Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" album was in second place with 1.54 million units sold.



Other notable findings of the report include:
  • Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” became the first digital song to sell more than 7 million tracks on March 20.
  • On July 3, Eminem’s Recovery became the first digital album to sell more than one million units; Adele’s 21 is on track to surpass a million units next week. Through the first six months of the year, Adele has the biggest selling; album of the year, digital album of the year, physical album of the year and digital track of the year.
  • 21 by Adele, has sold 2.5 million album sales, 1.5 million physical albums and 992,000 digital album sales while “Rolling in the Deep” has been downloaded more than four million times.
  • Adele’s 19 is the biggest selling catalogue album of the year through the first six months of 2011.
  • Lady Gaga’s Born This Way experienced the biggest 1st week album sales of 2011 with 1,108,000 units – the biggest 1st week album sales since 50 Cent’s Massacre in 2005. The album sold a record 662,000 digital albums in the first week of release.

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