Another Nail For the Album Sale

According to the current sales charts for 2014, for the first time in history, the RIAA will not be certifying a single platinum album this year. With the sales year almost over, no albums, not even Beyonce's BEYONCE, are anywhere close to the necessary one-million mark to receive platinum status.

Only the soundtrack for FROZEN has moved that amount, now over three million, but as a soundtrack/compilation, they are in a separate category. Many singles have crossed the 1M line, which further indicates the changing face of the music industry, with the balance returning to the emphasis on singles and not albums.

In this new, digital download age, can anyone be really that surprised? Soundscan has already signified 2014 as the worst year for album sales since they started tracking.

It would seem the long-form of works like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club and Dark Side of the Moon is gone, replaced with the instant gratification of ALL ABOUT THAT BASS, ANACONDA, and the other fifty songs about booty shaking that have appeared this year.

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