The surge in music streaming continued throughout 2017. Overall consumption of albums, songs and audio on-demand streaming grew 12.5% year over year. A 59% increase in on-demand audio streams offset track and album sales declines.
For the first time ever, R&B/Hip-Hop became the most dominant genre, with seven of the top 10 most-consumed albums coming from that genre. The popularity of R&B/Hip-Hop was powered by a 72% increase in on-demand audio streaming.
Highlights from the 2017 U.S. Music Year-End Report include:
- Ed Sheeran’s Divide was the leader in total volume (albums + track equivalent albums + on-demand audio streaming equivalent albums), followed by Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Taylor Swift’s Reputation.
- Latin music history was made when Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s Spanish-language
smash “Despacito” and its crossover remix featuring Justin Bieber topped the Hot 100 chart. “Despacito” was the biggest song of the year in terms of total activity (sales + on-demand audio streaming equivalents), followed by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and “Humble.” by Kendrick Lamar. - “Despacito” and “Shape of You” also led the Digital Song Sales chart, followed by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” at No. 3.
- Vinyl had a renaissance at retail by experiencing sales growth for the 12th consecutive year, comprising 14% of all physical album sales. The top-selling vinyl LP of the year was the re-release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
You can download the full report from Nielsen’s website, here