US Album sales decline, but is the slump slowing?

Album sales for the first quarter of 2008 are down by double digits, but that's significantly less than 2007's decline. So there's more than one way to look at the results. For the glass-half-empty crowd, this year's numbers continue a trend that has seen album sales tumble from 140.4 million in 2006's first quarter to 104.5 million this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan — a drop of more than 25% in two years. (USA Today, Digital Music News, Music Row)

Sales Bath Continues In January, Double-Digit Declines

The month featured a 10.3 percent year-over-year decline in album sales in the United States, a drop that falls below an already-depressed 2007. For the period ending January 27th, cumulative album sales topped 30.6 million, according to figures released by Nielsen Soundscan. (Digital Music News)

Radiohead's "Rainbows" yields pot of gold as hits No. 1

British rock band Radiohead scored its second No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart on Wednesday with a release that was initially sold on the Internet under a revolutionary "name your own price" system. The critically acclaimed album sold a modest 122,000 copies during its first official week in U.S. stores, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for the week ended January 6. "In Rainbows" also topped the charts in Britain, Canada, France, Japan and Ireland, said a representative for the group. (Reuters)