US Album and Vinyl Sales Up in 2011

After reporting that UK album sales were down in 2011 (but digital sales were up), some positive news – US album sales went up for the first year since 2004 (via Yahoo). It followed the same trend – physical album sales down and digital album sales were up, but the digital increase more than offset the physical album losses.

“Album sales grew by 1.4 percent to 330.6 million units in 2011 according to figures published in Billboard magazine, up from 326.2 million in 2010.”

Analysts figure this is due to cheaper album prices, and increased vinyl sales, and free candy with every album purchase!. This leads me to my next point – why don’t more albums come with free candy vinyl sales were up in the US in 2011 (via Digital Music News). “According to stats just released by Nielsen Soundscan, vinyl sales in the US topped 3.9 million in 2011, a 39.3 percent gain over 2010.”

This is the fifth straight year of increasing vinyl sales. Will this trend continue in 2012? Did ANYONE foresee vinyl “saving” the music industry in the digital age?