2014 May Be First Year Without Any Platinum-Selling Albums
Music Industry executives are worried as the year comes to a close in a few months, there hasn't been a single platinum-selling album in 2014. This could be the first year in modern history without an album that surpasses the benchmark of one million copies sold.
Several media outlets have made note of this occurrence, including Forbes and the website Death and Taxes.
Over the past 12 months, sales of Disney's "Frozen" soundtrack have soared, but that album was released just before the new year. However, its popularity has exceeded the 1 million mark in 2014, meaning it has earned an equivalent to a platinum sales certificate this year.
Other bestselling albums in the U.S. in 2014 include Lorde's "Pure Heroine" album and Beyoncé's self-titled LP. However, both of these projects were also released in 2013.
Of the top three, "Frozen" is the only effort that has sold more than 1 million units. Beyoncé and Lorde have sold around 750,000; no small potatoes, but still not even close to the platinum benchmark. Much of the two songstresses' album sales came and went before January 2014 according to The Guardian.
Coldplay's "Ghost Stories" and country singer Eric Church's latest LP "Outsiders" are also performing well, but are even further away from the mark than Beyoncé and Lorde.
However, there might still be an album before the beginning of 2015 that sells 1 million copies. The Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift are both scheduled to release projects before the end of the year. Swift's last full-length project, "Red," sold 1.2 million copies in its first week in 2012 and the Foo Fighters had a platinum project on their hands with 2005's "In Your Honor."
The Recording Industry Association of America first began awarding platinum record certification in 1976. Since that time 345 albums have received the distinction.
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