Album sales drop in 2002

NEW YORK (SoundScan) - A relatively healthy holiday buying season pumped up the volume of CD sales, but 2002's total dropped by an alarming 8.7% from last year's figures.

CD album sales through Dec. 29 amounted to a rounded-off 649.5 million, compared with 712 million in 2001, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The decline follows a 2.5% drop in 2001 - the only two declines the music industry has experienced since SoundScan began tabulating sales in 1991.

Most industry commentators have blamed Internet file sharing and the cooling of previously hot trends for the sales downshift.

Bright spots in the pervasive gloom were few, and mainly located in Nashville. Country music registered the only significant sales increase, selling 77 million units and improving 12.2% over last year. The report card for SoundScan's musical genres (which do not include pop) was generally the equivalent of "needs improvement":

Rock (a combination of SoundScan's "alternative" and "metal" breakouts) CDs accounted for 201 million sales, down 8.7%. Metal accounted for about 37% of that total but dropped more drastically: more than 15%. R&B (including rap) sold 162 million units, skidding 17.8%.

Rap itself sold 85 million, a little more than half of the R&B total, but was off about 6.5%, as non-rap R&B releases took a more severe hit, more than 27%.

Christian/gospel, which had been up slightly most of the year, finished at just under 50 million, down about half a percentage point.

Jazz, which generated 23 million sales, registered the only other genre gain, albeit a microscopic one of fewer than 50,000 units.

In another relative bright spot, Internet album sales totaled 18 million, an 8.6% increase.