Following its season premier in April, the music-themed TV show “Glee” saw track downloads from its four compilations jump from 50-350K in the first week. The show’s latest “Showstoppers” album topped the Billboard charts this week as digital sales of all “Glee”-related songs exceeded 500K. Songs from the show posted 4.1 million track sales in 2009 and 3.2 million so far this year (2.5 million of those tracks in the past six weeks alone).
“This is an interesting and vibrant time for the entertainment industry, music in particular, with the top four albums this week outselling last week’s number one,” said Eric Weinberg, President, Nielsen Entertainment. “We continue to see solid consumer demand for digital music sales, including full-length albums, with more than 40% of this week’s best selling album purchased digitally. Our data also shows independent retail music store sales up 10% for the week, driven by the reissue of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Exile On Main Street” and new albums debuting from the Black Keys, Damian Marley & Nas, Band of Horses and LCD Soundsystem, and the attraction for vinyl remains high.”
