Nielsen 2014 Data: On-Demand Streams Exceeded 164 Billion Songs

While 2014 saw overall album sales shrink  11 percent from 289.4 million in 2013 to 257 million in 2014, and digital albums sales slip nine percent from 117.6 million in 2013 to 106.5 million in 2014, on-demand streaming has continued to rise, according to data from Nielsen.

2014 saw a 54 percent increase in on-demand (audio+video) streaming, with 164 billion streams in 2014, vs. 106 billion in 2013.

“Digital music consumption continues its robust growth, with On-Demand streaming up 54% over last year and 164 billion song streams being played in 2014 ,” says David Bakula, SVP Industry Insights, Nielsen Entertainment. “Although overall music sales are showing declines, Vinyl album sales were up 52% in 2014, shattering last year’s record-setting total by more than 3 million LPs. In 2014, Vinyl album sales accounted for more than 6% of all physical albums sales.”

Digital Songs also took a hit in 2014, with 1.1 billion digital songs sold, a 12 percent decline from 2013, when 1.26 billion digital songs were sold.

2014 YTD ALBUMS
1 Taylor Swift, 1989 (BMLG) | 3661000
2 Various Artists, Frozen (DBV) | 3527000
3 Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour (Capitol)| 1207000
4 Pentatonix, That’s Christmas To Me (RCA) | 1139000
5 Guardians of the Galaxy (HOL) |898000
6 Beyonce, Beyonce (Columbia) |878000
7 Barbra Streisand, Partners (Columbia) | 856000
8 Lorde, Pure Heroine (R-LA) | 841000
9 One Direction, Four (Columbia) | 814000
10 Eric Church, Outsiders (EMI Nashville) | 811000

YTD Digital Songs
1 Pharrell Williams, “Happy” | 6455000
2 John Legend, “All of Me” | 4674000
3 Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J, “Dark Horse” | 4430000
4 Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”| 4357000
5 Iggy Azalea Ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy” | 3974000
6 Jason DeRulo Ft. 2 Chainz, “Talk Dirty” | 3959000
7 DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Turn Down For What” | 3449000
8 Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off” | 3431000
9 Idina Menzel, “Let It Go” | 3370000
10 Sam Smith, “Stay With Me” | 3340000

YTD Digital Albums
1 Taylor Swift, 1989 (BGMA)| 1409000
2 Various Artists, Frozen (DBV) |1261000
3 Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour (Capitol)| 573000
4 Various Artists, Guardians of the Galaxy (HOL) | 556000
5 Ed Sheeran, X (ATLG) |455000
6 Lorde, Pure Heroine (R-LA) | 437000
7 Coldplay, Ghost Stories (ATLG) | 425000
8 Beyonce, Beyonce (Columbia) |422000
9 Pentatonix, That’s Christmas To Me (RCA) | 403000
10 J Cole, 2014 Forest Hill Drive (RNCO) | 366000

For week ending: 12/28/2014

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Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at [email protected].

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