2015 Year End Music Report
2015 Year End Music Report
2015 Year End Music Report
M U S I C U.S .
REPORT
Going into the year, we had recently modernized the industry measuring stick - the Billboard
200 chart - to include track downloads and streamed songs in addition to traditional
album sales. The new chart reflected how fans now consume music, and in 2015 they
were consuming more than ever. Total consumption, including sales, streams and track
downloads, was up, fueled by the continued surge of streaming, which nearly doubled last
year.
And yet the biggest music consumption story of the year was not even available on streaming
services. We were awed by Adeles record-crushing 25. We monitored daily activity across
sales, streaming, airplay and social, and were thrilled to report on every new milestone she
achieved, incredible by any measuring stick.
We also listened to over 500,000 music consumers in 2015. We learned about their
consumption behaviors and preferences. We learned about their social activity how they
engage with their favorite artists, and how they use it to follow festivals and discover new
music. And importantly, we also showed brands the power and value of music fans; how to
reach them, and how to connect with them.
As advocates for the business of music, we are passionate about delivering the most
valuable, actionable, insights into music fans - and believe that smart data can inform
creativity. We hope you enjoy these 2015 highlights, and look forward to measuring your
amazing 2016 successes.
-Sincerely,
ERIN CRAWFORD
Week ending 11/26 (release week), Adele shatters the first week Nielsen
SoundScan record for weekly album sales with over 3.377 Million units,
breaking the weekly sales record previously held by NSyncs album, No
Strings Attached, which sold 2.416 Million in its first week.
For its release week, Adele/25 set an all-time record for highest album
share of total industry albums when it accounted for over 41% of the total
industry album sales for the week.
Adele/25 was the first title to ever scan over 1 Million units in multiple
weeks when she accomplished that feat in her second week (week-ending
12/03), with 1.112 Million album sales and then capped it off with an
unprecedented third week with 1.157 Million album sales during week-
ending 12/24.
Adele/25 set a first week record for Digital album sales as well, when she
sold 1.644 Million digital albums.
After only 6 weeks of sales, Adele/25 is already the 61st best-selling album
in Nielsen SoundScan history with over 7.4 Million sales.
Adeles catalog also showed dramatic increases in conjunction with the new
release as 21 re-entered the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart for week-
ending 11/26 at Number 9. That was the first appearance in the top 10 for
21 since 10/21, a span of over 3 years. Adeles album 21 has also risen to
be the 10th best-selling album in SoundScan history with over 11.4 Million
sales.
Sales of Adele/25 represented 3.1% of all album sales for the year and 16.4%
of all album sales during the six weeks since its release. Coupled with her
Catalog albums, 21 and 19 the total Adele Catalog sold 8 Million albums in
2015.
This is Adeles 3rd time as biggest-selling album of the year she topped
the year-end album chart in 2011 and 2012 with her album 21 selling 5.8M
and 4.4M respectively. No other artist in SoundScan history has ever
topped the year-end album chart three times.
Adele/25 was also 16.4% of all Digital Albums sold in the last 6 weeks of the
year and was 48% of all digital albums sold during its release week. It also
Streaming continues its growth with Audio on-demand streaming (+83% vs LY)
and Video on-demand streaming (+102%) both increasing dramatically.
An all-time weekly record was set week-ending 12/24 with nearly 7.5 Billion
on-demand streams.
Justin Bieber set an all-time record for total Audio on-demand streams in
one week for an album when songs from his album Purpose had over 100
Million on-demand audio streams in its release week (week-ending 11/19).
Vinyl LPs continued to set new all-time highs with nearly 12 Million units sold in
2015.
This marks the 10th straight year of growth for Vinyl LPs and surpasses last
years previous record volume by 2.8 Million units.
Rock is still the biggest genre for Vinyl LPs with over 68% of Vinyl LP sales
coming from Rock titles. With strong sales of Vinyl LPs by Adele/25 and
Taylor Swift/1989, pop more than doubled its share of Vinyl LP sales from
2014 (5.7% of total in 2015 vs. 2.8% of total in 2014).
Nearly 18% of all physical album sales for Rock were Vinyl LPs in 2015, up
from 13.4% in 2014.
Genre highlights it was a great year for Pop albums, as well as R&B/Hip-Hop.
Pop Albums, led by Adele/25 and Taylor Swift/1989 showed the most growth
year-over-year with a gain of 23% vs. 2014. CD sales for Pop records were up
21% vs. 2014 and Digital Album sales were up 22%. Although it was off of a
small base, Vinyl LP sales for the Pop genre were up 163% vs. last year.
R&B/Hip-Hop also showed growth in album sales vs. last year, as titles
such as Drake/If Youre Reading This, Its Too Late, The Weeknd/Beauty
Behind the Madness and Kendrick Lamar/To Pimp A Butterf ly all had strong
years. Album sales for R&B/Hip-Hop were up 2% overall vs. 2014 and
Digital Album sales were up 19% vs. last year.
Rock continued to be the #1 genre for Album sales, with nearly 33% of all
album sales coming from the Rock genre. Pop continues to dominate Track
sales, with 23% of track sales coming from the Pop genre. When it comes to
On-Demand Streaming, the dominant genre is R&B/Hip-Hop with over 21%
of on-demand streams coming from the R&B/Hip-Hop genre.
FEBRUARY
99% increase in Katy Perrys FEBRUARY 8
album sales the week after Most-Tweeted minute of the GRAMMYS is at
her Super Bowl halftime 10:42 p.m. EST, when 121,000 Tweets are sent after
performance. Kanye West approaches the stage following Becks
win for Album of the Year.
MARCH 17
The soundtrack for Foxs hit TV series Empire MARCH 30
MARCH
debuts at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. 5.5% increase in streams of Jay Zs
Its the first TV soundtrack to debut at Number Big Pimpin the week following
1 since 2010. Tidals press launch.
APRIL 18
Record Store Day: the indie sector accounts
for 532,000 album scans, or 21.5 % of total
APRIL
NOVEMBER 10
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER 11 DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER
Billboard names Lady Gaga, Woman of the Year. Mariah Careys All I Want For Christmas Is You is the
According to Nielsens Talent Analytics, Lady Gaga top on-demand holiday song with 8 million streams for
scores above the average in terms of Awareness, this week.
Influential, Social Media Savvy, and Trendsetter.
DECEMBER 24
The Beatles start streaming and their catalog has
over 14 million streams by Christmas.
Radio spins increase 89% 12/24-12/28 compared
to the previous week.
TOTAL ALBUM
549.4 476.9 +15.2%
+ TEA + SEA
GENRE % OF TOTAL
1 ADELE 25 7,441
4 ED SHEERAN X 1,162
1 ADELE 25 5,018
6 ED SHEERAN X 579
1 ADELE 25 2,307
5 ED SHEERAN X 546
1 ADELE 25 116
6 ARCTIC MONKEYS AM 48
9 HOZIER HOZIER 43
9 SKRILLEX & DIPLO FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER WHERE ARE U NOW 153,575
253
consecutive weeks in
the chart and counting!
11.3M
6
sales to date
129
ll
72%
V
3.38
million record-setting 1.1
sales first week million record-setting
sales second week
13% 13%
11%
2% 3%
12 - 17 18 - 34 35 - 54 55+
32% 20%
How many can she sell? She reaches people who dont
14%
More likely to get their
In a survey of U.S consumers, 32% normally buy music - 20% of those news from the internet
either bought or intend to buy 25 who bought or intend to buy 25
identified as non-music buyers
5 BEYONC 10 USHER
And during the summer, Classic Hits once again saw the most
audience growth in warm-weather months of any format. 2015
marked the second consecutive summer that Classic Hits listening
spiked more than any other type of radio across the U.S.
IMPRESSIONS
RANK ARTIST SONG PLAYS (000s)
(000s)
2 Country 9.10%
7 Alternative 5.00%
AQH-Average quarter hour. Data from January-November 2015. Persons 6+ AQH across 45
non-embedded PPM markets, Mon-Sun 6 a.m.-12 midnight.
Read as: Year-to-date(through November 2015), 12.4% of U.S. radio listeners aged 18-34
were tuned to a Pop CHR station during any 15-minute period during the day.
The most-Tweeted minute in a special in 2015: 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (MTV),
which garnered 248,000 Tweets at 10:49 p.m. ET on Aug. 30 in the minute following
Kayne Wests announcement that he would be running for President of the United States
in 2020.
The most-Tweeted series minute of 2015: The Voice (NBC), which garnered 182,000
Tweets at 8:57 p.m. ET on April 28.
A total of 2.4 million Tweets were sent about the Empire two-part season finale on March
18, 2015 on FOX. This made it the most Tweeted drama series episode this year and since
Nielsen Social began tracking TV-related Twitter activity in October 2011. Activity peaked
as the final episode drew to a close at 10 p.m. EST with 51,000 Tweets sent in that minute
alonethe most Tweeted minute for any drama series this year.
For 2015s Top 10 Specials for Twitter TV Ratings, 7 of the 10 were Entertainment specials,
and half were music specials.
AUDIENCE TWEETS
RANK PROGRAM DATE NETWORK
(000) (000)
4 The 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards 01/11/15 NBC 10,436 1,885
8 Republican Presidential Candidates Debate 08/06/15 Fox News Channel 9,278 3,293
Source: Nielsen. Data from Jan. 1, 2015-Nov. 30, 2015. Nielsen Social captures relevant Tweets in the U.S. from three hours before through three hours
after broadcast, local time. Unique Audience measures the audience of relevant Tweets ascribed to a program from when the Tweets are sent until the end
of the broadcast day at 5 a.m. Series and Specials include those on English- and Spanish-language broadcast and national cable networks only. Specials
are across all day parts and are ranked by unique audience for each individual telecast. Series include new/live prime time and late fringe programming
only.
4 SHAKIRA 9 ADELE
Since 2014, more people are discovering music on the radio and at live events.
Question: Which of the following are ways you discover new music?
About one-third of consumer spending on music is used towards live music events. Teens spend on
digital tracks and albums, while Millennials spend on music festivals.
SATELLITE RADIO
9% SUBSCRIPTION
10% 17%
1%
8% PAID ONLINE MUSIC
11% 5% STREAMING SERVICES
13% 9%
7%
PHYSICAL FORMS OF
9% MUSIC (E.G. CDS, VINYL)
13%
25% 12% DIGITAL TRACKS/ALBUMS
11%
3%
7% 7%
8% MUSIC GIFT CARDS
5% 3% 11%
5% 5%
TOTAL TEENS MILLENNIALS (AGE 18-34) ADMISSION TO SMALL LIVE
(AGE 13-17) MUSIC SESSIONS
ADMISSION TO DJ EVENT
Source: Nielsen Music 360 U.S. 2015
Question: In a typical year about how much money do you spend on the following entertainment activities?
Overall, live music attendance is up in 2015, with one half of Americans stating theyve been to a
live music event. Club events, with or without a headlining DJ, are up since 2014. Millennials and
Hispanics are more likely to attend live music events compared to the general population.
Question: About how many of the following types of live events, if any, do you attend per year?
When selecting a streaming service, most users cite cost and ease of
use as most important factors, followed by song library.
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