Album - Total sales in the Soundscan era - (Albums sold in 2007 up to 9/23)

Mariah Carey - 4,838,110 (+ 4,040)
Emotions - 3,571,934 (+ 1,265)
MTV Unplugged EP - 2,729,188 (+ 785)
Music Box - 7,168,034 (+ 6,240)
Merry Christmas - 4,801,243 (+ 1,265)
Daydream - 7,544,076 (+ 3,365)
Butterfly - 3,708,697 (+ 4,915)
#1s - 3,563,916 (+ 18,845)
Rainbow - 2,926,700 (+ 2,540)
Glitter - 635,277 (+ 4,325)
Greatest Hits - 949,470 (+ 47,555)
Charmbracelet - 1,146,604 (+ 3,410)
Remixes - 253,928 (+ 7,830)
The Emancipation of Mimi - 5,809,638 (+ 58,875)

Total: 49,646,815 (+165,255)

The Emancipation of Mimi sold 794 copies during the 9/16 to 9/23 week.

Thanks: Jim

Just as music sales appeared to be at least stagnating after a disastrous first quarter, (January-March) where albums like the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack and “Daughtry” were reaching #1 on the Billboard 200 with record low sales. We're hit with the lowest overall sales week in the almost seventeen year history of Soundscan, just two weeks before the fourth quarter (the biggest sales period of the year).

Now in the 4th quarter (39th week of the calendar year), the top selling album of the year is “Daughtry” by Daughtry and it has sold a little over 2 million copies, while the tenth biggest selling album “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” by Maroon 5 has sold 1.3 million copies. Although there is still another 13 weeks of the calendar year left before we can truly write this year off as disappointing year for album sales, it’s unlikely that the top selling album of the year will sell anywhere near 10 million copies like the #1 album of 2000 (*N SYNC’s “No Strings Attached” ) or even the #1 album of 2005, which sold 5 million copies (Mariah’s “The Emancipation of Mimi” ).

At the pinnacle of US album sales, only seven years ago (2000), 785 million albums were sold in Soundscan affiliated retail outlets and according to the RIAA a total of 942.5 million albums were shipped (includes sales in retail outlets not affiliated with Soundscan, like record clubs). At the end of 2006, music sales were down 25% in Soundscan sales (to 588.2 million albums) and 35% in total shipments (to 614.9 million albums) from 2000. If there is no upward trend in album sales this year, album sales in Soundscan affiliated retail outlets are projected to be down a 35.5% from 2000 and if total shipments decrease at the same ratio, total shipments will be down a whopping 44% from 2000.

Do you think there is something that can be done to revive dying US music sales or do you think there is no saving of US music sales? Discuss here.