YTD STATS: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE RELATIVE

First the good news. Bolstered by a strong post-Grammy/Valentine’s Day sales week, a red hot soundtrack and a surprise superstar release, year-to-date album sales are up very slightly, 0.2% vs. last year, according to our numbers-crunching gnomes.

Digital album sales are up 3% YTD, almost entirely due to Drake’s digital-only release. Digital album sales would be up by less than 20k year to date without If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late, so the industry owes Drizzy a debt of gratitude. (Trying saying that last phrase three times fast.)

As for the bad news, track sales are still hurting to the tune of -12% YTD.

The glass-half-full stat of the week: Overall TEA is down nearly 4% year to date but is up 1.4% from last week!