I found these figures interesting, from the July/August issue of Tape Op magazine:

In 2009, 98,000 albums were released in the US, selling a total of 373.9 million copies.

Only 2.1% of those albums sold >5000 copies, but accounted for 91% of the total sales.

97.9% of albums released in 2009 sold <5000 and most of those must have sold <1000.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement