The Best-Selling Albums of 2011

Songwriters and other music industry professionals rejoice! For the first time since 2004, the US albums market grew annually in 2011. Although CD sales still went down about 6%, the overall number of music sales increased 1.4% to 330.6 million units. These uplifting figures, recently published by Nielsen SoundScan Data, probably reflect a decreasing prevalence of illegal downloads--and that in and of itself is reason to celebrate. In 2011, the digital albums sector rose by 19.5% to 103.1 million units--which means that downloads comprised over 31% of all album sales during the year.

So, who took home top billing in 2011? Here's a quick break-down of the top-selling albums and singles of this past year:

Top 5 Albums in 2011:

1. Adele, "21" (5.82 million)
2. Michael Buble, "Christmas" (2.45 million)
3. Lady Gaga, "Born This Way" (2.1 million)
4. Lil Wayne, "Tha Carter IV" (1.92 million)
5. Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party" (1.58 million)

Top 5 Digital Songs in 2011:

1. Adele, "Rolling in the Deep" (5.81 million)
2. LMFAO, "Party Rock Anthem" (5.47 million)
3. Katy Perry, "E.T." (4.83 million)
4. Maroon 5, "Moves Like Jagger" (4.11 million)
5. Pitbull, "Give Me Everything" (3.87 million)

And here are some other year-end statistics you may find interesting:

Top 5 Radio Songs (ranked by airplay audience impressions) in 2011:

1. Pitbull Featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, "Give Me Everything"
2. Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"
3. Katy Perry, "Firework"
4. LMFAO Featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock, "Party Rock"
5. Katy Perry Featuring Kanye West, "E.T."

Top 5 Rock Songs in 2011:

1. Foo Fighters, "Rope"
2. Cage The Elephant, "Shake Me Down"
3. Foo Fighters, "Walk"
4. Foster The People "Pumped Up Kicks"
5. Seether, "Country Song"

Top 5 R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2011:
 
1. Miguel, "Sure Thing"
2. Kelly Rowland Featuring Lil Wayne, "Motivation"
3. Chris Brown Featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes, "Look At Me Now"
4. DJ Khaled Featuring Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne, "I'm On One"
5. Marsha Ambrosius, "Far Away"

Top 5 Country Songs in 2011:

1. Eli Young Band, "Crazy Girl"
2. Jake Owen, "Barefoot Blue Jean Night"
3. Rodney Atkins, "Take A Back Road"
4. Chris Young, "Tomorrow"
5. The Band Perry, "You Lie"

Top 5 Latin Songs in 2011:

1. Prince Royce, "Corazon sin Cara"
2. Don Omar, "Taboo"
3. Fidel Rueda, "Me Encantaria"
4. Don Omar & Lucenzo, "Danza Kuduro"
5. Pitbull Featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, "Give Me Everything"

To see other rankings by genre--including Jazz, Gospel, Bluegrass and Classical--check out Billboard.com.

Overall digital song sales grew 8.5% in 2011, bringing the total to a record 1.27 billion downloads. Compare that to 2010's then-record of 1.17 billion, and you will agree that this is great news--no matter what musical genre you write. Here at HillTop Records, we are excited for what these numbers may mean. We hope they continue to climb, in 2012 and the years to follow.