Adele, Lady Gaga power music recovery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British soul singer Adele and flamboyant pop singer Lady Gaga have helped the U.S. music industry stage a modest comeback after a decade of decline.

According to data released on Wednesday by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan, overall album sales rose 3.6 percent to 221.5 million units during the first half of 2011, the first increase since 2004.

While it is too early to judge if the trend will last through the year, an annual increase would be only the second in 11 years.

To be sure, the year got off to a rough start, with overall weekly sales hitting record lows several times. But Adele and Lady Gaga have restored some hope to an industry battered by piracy, label retrenchment and the recession.

Adele sold 2.5 million copies of her second album "21" in the 19 weeks after it went on sale in late February. It spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and never dipped below No. 3.

"21" easily outpaced Lady Gaga's second effort, "Born This Way," which has sold 1.5 million copies -- albeit after only six weeks. But Lady Gaga's sales slumped after a record-breaking first week when it sold 1.1 million copies with help from a 99 cent promotion on Amazon.com.

"Born this Way" currently ranks at No. 12 on the latest weekly chart, while "21" is at No. 2.

"ROLLING" TO NO. 1

Adele's success has been powered by her chart-topping hit single "Rolling in the Deep," the best selling digital track so far this year with 4.1 million downloads.

The title track of Lady Gaga's album was No. 3 with 2.9 million units, just behind perky pop singer Katy Perry's "E.T." with 3 million units.

While Lady Gaga has been ubiquitous on the worldwide promotional trail in a staggering array of colorful costumes, Adele has adopted a relatively low-key approach for her confessional album. She recently postponed the remaining nine dates of her sold-out tour of mid-sized North American venues because of throat problems.

The success of "21" revived sales of Adele's 2008 debut, "19," which yielded two Grammy Awards including best new artist. It sold 341,000 copies during the first half to rank as the top-selling "catalog" release among albums that were distributed more than 18 months ago. Its total sales stand at 1.2 million copies.

The third-biggest selling artist so far this year is another soulful British act, the folk revivalists Mumford & Sons, who have sold 982,000 copies of their 2009 debut "Sigh No More," thanks in part to attention-grabbing performances at the Grammys and the Coachella music festival in California. Its total sales are currently 1.6 million.

Country singer Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" (763,000) and pop/R&B singer Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" (686,000) rounded out the top five.

More than 40 years after their breakup, the Beatles managed to top one chart during the first half. Their 1969 album "Abbey Road" was the No. 1 vinyl release, selling 20,200 copies.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Thank God that it's Adele. Finally a beacon of hope in a sea of turds.

It's amazing what happens when they release albums by women who can actually sing.

I know Lil Wayne, Streisand and Coldplay are prepping releases that will keep sales up...

but what else is coming in 2011?

I'm not excited for much beyond Santigold, Bjork and the hope that No Doubt and Fiona Apple will release new music.

purplethunder3121 said:

Adele, Lady Gaga power music recovery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British soul singer Adele and flamboyant pop singer Lady Gaga have helped the U.S. music industry stage a modest comeback after a decade of decline.

According to data released on Wednesday by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan, overall album sales rose 3.6 percent to 221.5 million units during the first half of 2011, the first increase since 2004.

While it is too early to judge if the trend will last through the year, an annual increase would be only the second in 11 years.

To be sure, the year got off to a rough start, with overall weekly sales hitting record lows several times. But Adele and Lady Gaga have restored some hope to an industry battered by piracy, label retrenchment and the recession.

Adele sold 2.5 million copies of her second album "21" in the 19 weeks after it went on sale in late February. It spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and never dipped below No. 3.

"21" easily outpaced Lady Gaga's second effort, "Born This Way," which has sold 1.5 million copies -- albeit after only six weeks. But Lady Gaga's sales slumped after a record-breaking first week when it sold 1.1 million copies with help from a 99 cent promotion on Amazon.com.

"Born this Way" currently ranks at No. 12 on the latest weekly chart, while "21" is at No. 2.

"ROLLING" TO NO. 1

Adele's success has been powered by her chart-topping hit single "Rolling in the Deep," the best selling digital track so far this year with 4.1 million downloads.

The title track of Lady Gaga's album was No. 3 with 2.9 million units, just behind perky pop singer Katy Perry's "E.T." with 3 million units.

While Lady Gaga has been ubiquitous on the worldwide promotional trail in a staggering array of colorful costumes, Adele has adopted a relatively low-key approach for her confessional album. She recently postponed the remaining nine dates of her sold-out tour of mid-sized North American venues because of throat problems.

The success of "21" revived sales of Adele's 2008 debut, "19," which yielded two Grammy Awards including best new artist. It sold 341,000 copies during the first half to rank as the top-selling "catalog" release among albums that were distributed more than 18 months ago. Its total sales stand at 1.2 million copies.

The third-biggest selling artist so far this year is another soulful British act, the folk revivalists Mumford & Sons, who have sold 982,000 copies of their 2009 debut "Sigh No More," thanks in part to attention-grabbing performances at the Grammys and the Coachella music festival in California. Its total sales are currently 1.6 million.

Country singer Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" (763,000) and pop/R&B singer Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" (686,000) rounded out the top five.

More than 40 years after their breakup, the Beatles managed to top one chart during the first half. Their 1969 album "Abbey Road" was the No. 1 vinyl release, selling 20,200 copies.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Its very temporary, i dont think the Lil wayne release and/or Jayz/Kanye will do anything special outside of the first 2-3 weeks if even. The same was happening back when You had Norah Jones and Alicia Keys setting records with sales, mainly Norah, so to me Adele is just that for now, music is nothing more than a trend and right now people are really into someone that actually sings and not a huge pop icon. But for the rest of the year dont expect much, alot of the bigger sellers are not due till 2012 at best. So unless the fourth quarter sees its usuals like Celine Dion or Josh Groban or Boccelli or that British lady, expect a drop again, but then again, the RISE is based off of the worst numbers ever, so its all moot.

Please Born this way is dropping fast, the story should give full credit to Adele, whos disc has been on the charts for the last 7 months and has reclaimed the number 1 spot time and time again. Any investor knows that slow and steady makes the coin.

[Edited 7/13/11 21:44pm]

lazycrockett said:

Please Born this way is dropping fast, the story should give full credit to Adele, whos disc has been on the charts for the last 7 months and has reclaimed the number 1 spot time and time again. Any investor knows that slow and steady makes the coin.

[Edited 7/13/11 21:44pm]

Yeah plus Adele can cross over genres and race, its very much like what Norah Jones did in 2002 with Come Away With Me, people also forget that album was a really slow burn but sold and really with the addition of Coldplay saved EMI for the time. I dont think Adele will do Norah numbers long term just because downloading is more now than it was in 2002, People forget Norah NOT beyonce was the biggest selling female in the decade.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Thank God that it's Adele. Finally a beacon of hope in a sea of turds.

I think what it has to say is that not only kids are buying it..but the mature album buying public...those are the people record labels need to cater to. Kids are just going to download it for free.

paisleypark4 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Thank God that it's Adele. Finally a beacon of hope in a sea of turds.

I think what it has to say is that not only kids are buying it..but the mature album buying public...those are the people record labels need to cater to. Kids are just going to download it for free.

Exactly...

I am happy for Adele... The labels just need to stop force feeding the public with all this fast food music. Mature audiences are aware of the marketing ploys. They are going to spend their money on real music lol

Adele needs to release a second single. I hate how radio keeps playing RITD constantly. It came out MONTHS ago.

paisleypark4 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Thank God that it's Adele. Finally a beacon of hope in a sea of turds.

I think what it has to say is that not only kids are buying it..but the mature album buying public...those are the people record labels need to cater to. Kids are just going to download it for free.

With releases by the like of Susan Boyle and Sade both having big sales last year I would bet that more albums are gonna come out for that target audience.

MidniteMagnet said:

Adele needs to release a second single. I hate how radio keeps playing RITD constantly. It came out MONTHS ago.

I was hoping she put out "Someone Like You". It's already a No. 1 smash in the UK and Australia... or I think it hit No. 2 in the UK but still a smash nonetheless. It's kinda like "19" and "Chasing Pavements". She released more songs overseas on that album than in the U.S. and it seems like the same thing is happening right now. What is XL doing?

Good for Adele! you can still be stripped down just singing no crazy gimmicks and get great attention

I think Coldplay will sell good as always, Streisand & probably Wayne as RKJ mentioned.

As a huge Kanye & Jay-Z Fan i'm not that excited for the collab album, it will probably be number 1 but fall fast after that. It will probably go platinum or at least gold but i know it will fall off the charts fast.