Skip to main content

Record Sales By The US Census

Record Sales By The US Census

All information is provided by the Bureau of the Census. Amounts include the number of records that were in production that year. The U.S. Census Bureau terminated the collection of data for this program as of October 1, 2011. See additional sources below for more information.


1998 to 2022 music sales
The changing revenue of the recorded music industry over the past two decades.


Year Amount Value Change In Value Notes
2010 5,500,000 $92,500,000 +40.5% ***
2009 4,400,000 $65,800,000 +2.8% ***
2008 4,100,000 $64,000,000 +40.6% ***
2007 4,900,000 $45,500,000 +14.6 ***
2006 4,500,000 $39,700,000 -45.3% ***
2005 7,100,000 $72,600,000 -28.1% ***
2004 9,100,000 $101,000,000 +133.8% ***
2003 5,300,000 $43,200,000 -4.8%
2002 6,100,000 $45,400,000 -22.7%
2001 7,800,000 $58,800,000 +8.8%
2000 7,000,000 $54,000,000 +9.5
1999 8,200,000 $59,700,000 0%
1998 8,800,000 $59,700,000 -13.3%
1997 10,200,000 $68,900,000 -18.2%
1996 13,000,000 $84,300,000 +17.4%
1995 12,400,000 $71.800,000 +10.4%
1994 13,600,000 $65,000,000 +4%
1993 16,200,000 $61,800,000 -22.6%
1992 22,100,000 $79,900,000 -14.3%
1991 26,800,000 $93,300,000 -48.4%
1990 39,300,000 $180,900,000 -46.2%
1989 71,200,000 $336,700,000 -52.7%
1988 138,000,000 $712,600,000 -28.4%
1987 189,000,000 $996,400,000 -17.7%
1986 219,100,000 $1,211,100,000 -22.4%
1985 287,700,000 $1,561,500,000 -15.4%
1984 336,100,000 $1,847,500,000 -5.6%
1983 334,000,000 $1,958,000,000 -11.3%
1982 379,000,000 $2,208,000,000 -15%
1981 450,000,000 $2,598,000,000 +1.5%
1980 487,100,000 $2,559,600,000 +6.1
1979 502,000,000 $2,411,000,000 -11.8%
1978 531,000,000 $2,734,000,000 +12%
1977 534,000,000 $2,440,000,000
1976 3,201,000 $349,000,000 **
1975 421,000,000 $1,696,500,000
1973 5,235,000 $246,000,000 +15.4% **
1972 4,256,000 $213,000,000 **
1970 * $1,182,000,000
1968 4,020,000 $233,000,000 +8.3% **
1967 3,987,000 $215,000,000 -20.6% **
1965 4,436,000 $271,000,000 **
1963 3,372,000 * **
1960 2,840,000 * **
1959 3,300,000 $330,000,000 +1.5% **
1957 3,717,000 $335,000,000 +117.5% **
1955 2,234,000 $154,000,000 **
1954 * $80,224,000 -12.3%
1953 * $91,527,000 +4.4%
1952 * $87,670,000 +2.9%
1950 * $85,203,000
1947 * $110,184,000
1947 760,000 $81,432,000 Value including records and record players
1939 * $19,762,000
1939 * $48,917,000 Value including record accessories like needles, etc.
1937 * $7,823,000 +111.1%
1935 * $3,705,000 +48.2%
1933 * $2,500,000 -67.5%
1931 30,851,282 $7,698,000 -77.4%
1929 105,085,000 $34,129,000 +7.3%
1927 105,701,000 $31,781,000 +18.6%
1925 82,125,000 $26,791,000 -51.6%
1923 978,000 $55,395,000 +44.8%
1921 588,000 $38,251,000 -56.9%
1919 2,138,000 $88,836,000
1914 514,000 $15,291,000 **
1909 345,000 * **
1899 151,000 * **






 
* No data
** All values include phonographs and single record players
*** All values include all analog physical media
Click to download report


The Compact Cassette was invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips in 1963.
Click to download census report 

The compact disc was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings in 1982.
Click to download census report


To access the most current data, please refer to the census cited in the source notes.


Additional information and sources:
Global Music Report
Statistical Abstracts of the United States
Statistical Abstracts of the United States Wikipedia
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jackson Browne - Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Europe has a rich history of embracing blues and jazz music. In the early 20th century, American jazz musicians began touring Europe, introducing the continent to a new sound that was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Jazz became an instant hit among European audiences, and many European musicians began incorporating jazz elements into their music. Today, jazz festivals are held all over Europe, attracting thousands of fans from all over the world. In addition, many European cities have thriving blues scenes, with local bands and musicians performing regularly. Blues and jazz have also made their way to Asia, where they have found a devoted fan base. Japan, in particular, has a thriving jazz scene, with many Japanese musicians achieving international recognition. In addition, China has also seen a rise in the popularity of jazz music in recent years. Jazz festivals are now held in major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, attracting jazz lovers from all over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ian Brown - Home Is Where The Heart Is

Talking to artists about how they had adjusted to the pandemic yielded information that normally doesn’t come up during artist interviews. While some musicians lost their main source of income, others were able to continue with their regular day jobs that, given the generally low pay for gigs, often allowed them to be active in the blues. Others were forced to turn to webcasting. In Clarksdale, Lucious Spiller was one of the first to do these shows and was likely the most active, for a year he played every Wednesday night, on Thursday afternoons, a time amenable to Europeans, and on most Saturdays, about as often as he normally performed. Aside from a fall off after the first weeks, support for the gigs, which was almost enough to pay the bills, remained steady until things began to open up in May of 2021. About five years ago, Clarksdale reached the milestone of live music seven days a week, 365 days a year, but that ended abruptly... The contemporary Southern soul market is largely s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Veronica Swift - A Little Taste

There has always been an uncomfortable tension between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, a cyclical influence that vacillates between inspiration, appropriation and separation. Popular music has broken off into categories of rock, pop, country, and R&B, each with their own origin stories. But R&B and rock, usually codified as vastly different, Black and white styles, have long been intertwined in ways our historical memory may have us forget.  Despite the innovation that comes from separation, rock and R&B always find their way back to each other. In recent years, rock veterans have turned to the genre’s classics for inspiration. Queens of the Stone Age veered from their typical hard rock with 2017’s Villains, a dance y album inspired by frontman Josh Homme’s love of 1920s jazz and swing, other Black genres that laid the groundwork for the popular music of today. The whitewashing of rock’s history has oversimplified music’s malleability and silenced the voices of Amer...
Post a Comment
Read more