Weekly Register: Mid-Year Check-Up

This week wraps the end of the second quarter of 2014, so let’s check the barely-there sales pulse.
YEAR TO DATE
Albums:
Country album sales are down -18.4% YTD, having sold 15.302 million this year, compared to 18.763 million at the same time last year.
Country digital albums, which are included in the above total tallies, are 5.214 million YTD versus 5.808 million last year, a fall of -10.2%.
Country album sales including track equivalent albums (TEA) are down -19.2%.
The Country album market share is at 12.7%, fairly steady compared to last year.
Total album sales, encompassing all genres, fell -14.8%, selling 120.895 million YTD. This is a little less than Country’s -18.4% slide.
Tracks:
Country tracks are down -20.8% YTD, selling 73.307 million this year, versus 92.530 million last year.
Total tracks YTD fell -13%, 593.6 million this year compared to 682.2 million last year.
THIS WEEK
Circling back to this week, Tay-Tay’s pal Ed Sheeran debuted at the top of the charts with his latest, X, selling 209K.
Top 5 Country Albums
Miranda Lambert 29K this week
Brantley Gilbert 21K
Luke Bryan 13K
Willie Nelson 11K
Now Country 7 10K
Top 5 Country Tracks
Kenny Chesney “American Kids” 74K this week
Dierks Bentley “Drunk On A Plane” 69K
Lady Antebellum “Bartender” 61K
Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood “Somethin’ Bad” 60K
Jake Owen “Beachin’” 54K
Hot Track: Luke Bryan’s “Roller Coaster” increased 207%, selling 17,540 TW and 73,501 RTD.
Next month starts a string of major label releases to boost YTD sales including Chase Rice (8/19), Brad Paisley (8/26), Lee Brice (9/9), Tim McGraw (9/16) and Kenny Chesney (9/23).
Sales tallies according to Nielsen SoundScan.