2006 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1 Billion in Sales

White Plains (New York), USA – (BUSINESS WIRE) Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product, Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, and Nielsen RingScan, which tracks mobile ringtone purchases, have announced their 2006 U.S. year-end sales and airplay monitoring data for the 52-week period January 2 through December 31, 2006.

OVERALL MUSIC SALES  (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(ALBUMS, SINGLES, MUSIC VIDEO, DIGITAL TRACKS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % Chg.
                    1,198               1,003      19.4%

TOTAL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(INCLUDES CD, CS, LP, DIGITAL ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % Chg.
                    588.2               618.9      -4.9%

DIGITAL TRACK SALES
(01/02/2006 - 12/31/2006 - SALES IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % Chg.
                    581.9               352.7      65%

OVERALL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(INCLUDES ALL ALBUMS & TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % Chg.
                    646.4               654.1      -1.2%

INTERNET ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(Physical album purchases via e-commerce sites, In Millions)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % Chg.
                    29.4                24.7       19.0%

DIGITAL ALBUM SALES
(01/02/2006 - 12/31/2006 - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD          2006                2005       % CHG.
                    32.6                16.2       101%

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