Top Albums for the Week

Here are the album sales for the week ending 02/27/2011

THIS WEEK RANK	ARTIST	TITLE	THIS WEEK SALES
1	Adele	21	351,649
2	Justin Bieber	Never Say Never-Remixes	101,811
3	Mumford & Sons	Sigh No More	71,370
4	Various	Now 37	58,247
5	Justin Bieber	My World 2.0	42,324
6	Bruno Mars	Doo - Wops & Hooligans	36,796
7	Eminem	Recovery	33,639
8	Rihanna	Loud	33,316
9	Nicki Minaj	Pink Friday	32,332
10	Lady Antebellum	Need You Now	27,991

Top Albums for the Week

Here are the album sales for the week ending 02/20/2011

THIS WEEK RANK	ARTIST	TITLE	THIS WEEK SALES
1	Justin Bieber	Never Say Never-Remixes	161,272
2	Mumford & Sons	Sigh No More	132,793
3	Various	Now 37	94,549
4	Lady Antebellum	Need You Now	85,243
5	Bruno Mars	Doo - Wops & Hooligans	60,933
6	Eminem	Recovery	60,570
7	Various Artists	2011 Grammy Nominees	55,553
8	Justin Bieber	My World 2.0	54,270
9	Nicki Minaj	Pink Friday	45,914
10	Rihanna	Loud	45,191

Top Albums for the Week

Top album sales for the week ending 01/09/2011

 

THIS WEEK RANK	ARTIST	TITLE	THIS WEEK SALES
1	Swift, Taylor	Speak Now	52,028
2	Minaj, Nicki	Pink Friday	38,642
3	Mars, Bruno	Doo - Wops & Hooligans	38,175
4	Soundtrack	Tron Legacy	34,333
5	Eminem	Recovery	33,417
6	Rihanna	Loud	33,387
7	West, Kanye	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	33,240
8	Mumford & Sons	Sigh No More	31,005
9	Aldean, Jason	My Kinda Party	29,362
10	Various Artists	Country Strong (Soundtrack)	28,450

The State of the Music Industry

The bleeding hasn’t stopped for the music industry as album sales plummeted 12.8% and digital track sales flattened to a meager 1% gain for 2010, according to figures issued Wednesday by Nielsen SoundScan. 

Album unit sales dropped to 326.2 million, from 373.9 million units in 2009. The 2010 drop nearly matched 2009's decline of 12.7%.

Overall album sales, physical releases and digital "track equivalent albums" -- fell 9.5%, to 443.4 million units from 489.8 million in 2009. This compared to a drop of 8.5% in 2009.

Just four albums sold more than 2 million units last year; the No. 10 bestseller, Ke$ha's "Animal," barely inched past the 1 million mark, with 1.14 million sold.

In terms of 2010 market share, Universal Music Group led the four majors with 31.4% of albums sold. Sony Music Entertainment ranked No. 2 with 27.4%, with Warner Music Group trailing behind with 19.8% and EMI Music a distant fourth with 9.6%. The independent sector outdid EMI with an 11.6% share.

Rapper Eminem claimed the 2010 album sales championship, moving 3.4 million copies of "Recovery." Country acts trailed only slightly among the top sellers: Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" placed second with 3 million, while Taylor Swift's late-year release "Speak Now" came in a close third with 2.96 million.

Swift was the top-selling album artist of '10, notching total sales of 4.47 million, followed by Eminem (4.32 million), Lady Antebellum (3.85 million), Justin Bieber (3.73 million) and the cast of the Fox series "Glee" (3.6 million). Swift has sold more than 4 million albums per year for the past three years.

Just four albums sold more than 2 million units last year; the No. 10 bestseller, Ke$ha's "Animal," barely inched past the 1 million mark, with 1.14 million sold.

53rd Grammy Award Nominations

The nominations are in for the 53rd Grammy Awards and this year Eminem tops the nominations with 10; Bruno Mars garners seven; and Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum, and Lady Gaga each earn six nods. Jeff Beck, B.o.B, David Frost, Philip Lawrence, and John Legend receive five each; and Alex Da Kid, the Black Keys, Drake, Cee Lo Green, Ari Levine, Katy Perry, Rihanna, the Roots, Dirk Sobotka, and Zac Brown each have four nominations. 

 The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place in Los Angeles at Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, and will air live on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). 

Below is a list of the nominees in the the major categories. 

Song of the Year
'Beg, Steal or Borrow' -- Ray LaMontagne
'Forget You' -- Cee-Lo
'The House That Built Me' -- Miranda Lambert
'Love the Way You Lie' -- Eminem Feat. Rihanna
'Need You Now' -- Lady Antebellum

Album of the Year
'The Suburbs' -- Arcade Fire
'Recovery' -- Eminem
'Need You Now' -- Lady Antebellum
'The Fame Monster' -- Lady Gaga
'Teenage Dream' -- Katy Perry

Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence and the Machine
Mumford and Sons
Esperanza Spalding

Record of the Year
'Nothing on You' -- B.o.B. Feat. Bruno Mars
'Love the Way You Lie' -- Eminem Feat. Rihanna
'Forget You' -- Cee-Lo
'Empire State of Mind -- Jay-Z Feat. Alicia Keys
'Need You Now' -- Lady Antebellum

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
'King of Anything' -- Sara Bareilles
'Halo (Live)' -- Beyoncé
'Chasing Pirates' -- Norah Jones
'Bad Romance' -- Lady Gaga
'Teenage Dream' -- Katy Perry

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
'Haven't Met You Yet' -- Michael Bublé
'This is It' -- Michael Jackson
'Whataya Want from Me' -- Adam Lambert
'Just the Way You Are' -- Bruno Mars
'Half of My Heart' -- John Mayer

Best Female Country Vocal Performance
'Satisfied' -- Jewel
'The House That Built Me' -- Miranda Lambert
'Swingin'' -- LeAnn Rimes
'Temporary Home' -- Carrie Underwood
'I'd Love to Be Your Last' -- Gretchen Wilson

Best Pop Performance By a Group or Duo with Vocals
'Don't Stop Believin' (Regionals Version)' -- 'Glee' cast
'The Only Exception' -- Paramore
'Babyfather' -- Sade
'Hey, Soul Sister (Live)' -- Train

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
'Airplanes, Part II' -- B.o.B., Eminem & Hayley Williams
'Imagine' -- Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare
'If it Wasn't for Bad' -- Elton John & Leon Russell
'Telephone' -- Lady Gaga & Beyoncé
'California Gurls' -- Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg

Best Pop Vocal Album
'My World 2.0' -- Justin Bieber
'I Dreamed a Dream' -- Susan Boyle
'The Fame Monster' -- Lady Gaga
'Battle Studies' -- John Mayer
'Teenage Dream' -- Katy Perry

Best Country Song
'The Breath You Take' -- George Strait
'Free' -- Zac Brown Band
'The House That Built Me' -- Miranda Lambert
'I'd Love to Be Your Last' -- Gretchen Wilson
'If I Die Young' -- The Band Perry
'Need You Now' -- Lady Antebellum

Best Country Album
'Up on the Ridge' -- Dierks Bentley
'You Get What You Give' -- Zac Brown Band
'The Guitar Song' -- Jamey Johnson
'Need You Now' -- Lady Antebellum
'Revolution' -- Miranda Lambert

Best Rock Song
'Angry World' -- Neil Young
'Little Lion Man' -- Mumford & Sons
'Radioactive' -- Kings Of Leon
'Resistance' -- Muse
'Tighten Up' -- The Black Keys

Best Rock Album
'Emotion & Commotion' -- Jeff Beck
'The Resistance' -- Muse
'Backspacer' -- Pearl Jam
'Mojo' -- Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
'Le Noise' -- Neil Young

Best R&B Song
'Bittersweet' -- Fantasia
'Finding My Way Back' -- Jaheim
'Second Chance' -- El DeBarge
'Shine' -- John Legend & The Roots
'Why Would You Stay' -- Kem

Best R&B Album
'The Love & War Masterpeace' -- Raheem DeVaughn
'Back To Me' -- Fantasia
'Another Round' -- Jaheim
'Wake Up!' -- John Legend & The Roots
'Still Standing' -- Monica

Best Contemporary R&B Album
'Graffiti' -- Chris Brown
'Untitled' -- R. Kelly
'Transition' -- Ryan Leslie
'The ArchAndroid' -- Janelle Monáe
'Raymond V Raymond' -- Usher

Best Rap Song
'Empire State Of Mind -- Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
'Love the Way You Lie' -- Eminem & Rihanna
'Not Afraid -- Eminem
'Nothin' On You' -- B.o.B & Bruno Mars
'On To The Next One' --Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz

Best Rap Album
'The Adventures of Bobby Ray' -- B.o.B
'Thank Me Later' -- Drake
'Recovery' -- Eminem
'The Blueprint 3' -- Jay-Z
'How I Got Over' -- The Roots

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television
'Crazy Heart' -- Various Artists
'Glee: The Music, Volume 1' -- 'Glee' Cast
'Treme' -- Various Artists
'True Blood-Volume 2' -- Various Artists
'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' -- Various Artists.