2006 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1 Billion Sales
Growth In Overall Music Sales Exceeds 19%, Digital Track Sales Increase 65% from 2005

Nielsen Music 2006 Year-End Music Industry Report

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry's data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product, Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, and Nielsen RingScan, which tracks mobile ringtone purchases, have announced their 2006 U.S. year-end sales and airplay monitoring data for the 52-week period January 2 through December 31, 2006.

OVERALL MUSIC SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(ALBUMS, SINGLES, MUSIC VIDEO, DIGITAL TRACKS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % Chg.
1,198 1,003 19.4%

TOTAL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(INCLUDES CD, CS, LP, DIGITAL ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % Chg.
588.2 618.9 -4.9%

DIGITAL TRACK SALES
(01/02/2006 - 12/31/2006 - SALES IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % Chg.
581.9 352.7 65%

OVERALL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(INCLUDES ALL ALBUMS & TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % Chg.
646.4 654.1 -1.2%

INTERNET ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06)
(Physical album purchases via e-commerce sites, In Millions)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % Chg.
29.4 24.7 19.0%

DIGITAL ALBUM SALES
(01/02/2006 - 12/31/2006 - IN MILLIONS)
UNITS SOLD 2006 2005 % CHG.
32.6 16.2 101%
2006 GENRE ALBUM SALES REPORT

(01/02/06-12/31/06)


Genre 2006 2005 % Chg.
Alternative 109,672 120,797 -9.2%
Christian/Gospel 39,715 39,211 1.3%
Classical 19,447 15,875 22.5%
Country 74,886 75,327 -0.5%
Jazz 15,720 17,139 -8.3%
Latin 37,774 35,907 5.2%
Metal 61,557 64,473 -4.5%
New Age 3,412 4,412 -22.7%
R&B 117,005 143,392 -18.4%
Rap 59,534 75,062 -20.7%
Rock(a)
170,726 NA
Soundtrack 27,177 22,849 18.9%
(Note: Titles may appear in more than one genre.)
(a) Rock was a new genre in 2006.

CURRENT VS. CATALOG ALBUM SALES

(Sales In Millions: 01/02/06-12/31/06)


Overall Albums 2006 2005 % Chg.
Current 363.9 389.4 -6.5%
Catalog 224.2 229.5 -2.3%
Deep Catalog 158.2 157.5 0.4%

Physical Albums: 2006 2005 % Chg.
Current 345.3 379.8 -9.1%
Catalog 210.2 222.8 -8.1%
Deep Catalog 148.4 152.7 -2.8%

Digital Albums: 2006 2005 % Chg.
Current 18.6 9.6 93.7%
Catalog 14.0 6.7 108.9%
Deep Catalog 9.8 4.8 104.2%
2006 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE (1/02/06 - 12/31/06)

(reflects the market share for the entire entity, including sub-distributed companies)


TOTAL ALBUMS (Catalog & Current Titles)
CURRENT ALBUMS
CATALOG ALBUMS

2006 2005 2006 2005 2006 2005
UMG 31.61% 31.71% UMG 34.37 34.82% UMG 27.14 27.72%
BMG 11.95% 11.78% BMG 13.71 13.16% BMG 9.08 10.54%
SONY 15.49% 15.67% SONY 14.42 14.55% SONY 17.23 15.77%
SONYBMG Total 27.44% 27.45% SONYBMG Total 28.13 27.71% SONYBMG Total 26.31 26.31%
WMG 18.14% 17.28% WMG 16.85 16.02% WMG 20.25 20.66%
EMI 10.20% 10.38% EMI 9.23 9.21% EMI 11.77 12.14%
OTHERS 12.61% 13.18% OTHERS 11.43 12.24% OTHERS 14.52 13.17%
2006 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE continued…(1/02/06 - 12/31/06)

(reflects the market share for the entire entity including sub-distributed companies)


DIGITAL ALBUMS
DIGITAL TRACKS

2006 2005 2006 2005
UMG 27.35% 29.78% UMG 32.96% 33.27%
BMG 10.25% 11.75% BMG 12.21% 13.22%
SONY 13.75% 12.47% SONY 13.45% 13.39%
SONYBMG Total 24.00% 24.22% SONYBMG Total 25.66% 26.61%
WMG 23.29% 21.57% WMG 19.69% 18.26%
EMI 9.99% 11.44% EMI 7.93% 7.84%
OTHERS 15.37% 12.99% OTHERS 13.75% 14.02%
2006 TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS
2006 TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS

(01/02/2006-12/31/2006)
(based on Album sales from 01/02/2006-12/31/2006)


Title/Artist Units Sold Artist Units Sold
1 Soundtrack / High School Musical
3,719,071 1 Rascal Flatts 4,970,640
2 Me and My Gang / Rascal Flatts
3,479,994 2 Johnny Cash 4,826,320
3 Some Hearts / Carrie Underwood
3,015,950 3 Nickelback 3,160,025
4 All the Right Reasons/ Nickelback
2,688,166 4 Carrie Underwood 3,016,123
5 Futuresex/Love … / Justin Timberlake
2,377,127 5 Beatles 2,812,720
6 Back to Bedlam / James Blunt
2,137,142 6 Tim McGraw 2,657,675
7 B’day / Beyonce
2,010,311 7 Andrea Bocelli 2,524,681
8 Soundtrack/ Hannah Montana
1,987,681 8 Mary J. Blige 2,485,897
9 Taking the Long Way/ Dixie Chicks
1,856,284 9 Keith Urban 2,442,577
10. Extreme Behavior/ Hinder
1,817,350 10. Justin Timberlake 2,437,763
2006 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL TRACKS
2006 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ARTISTS

(01/02/2006-12/31/2006)
(based on digital track sales from 01/02/2006 – 12/31/2006)


Title/Artist Units Sold Artist Units Sold
1 Bad Day (Album Version) / Daniel Powter
1,935,974 1 Rascal Flatts 3,792,277
2 Crazy (Album Version) / Gnarls Barkley
1,628,599 2 Nickelback 3,715,579
3 Over My Head / Fray
1,518,450 3 Fray 3,625,140
4 Temperature (Album Version) / Sean Paul
1,504,658 4 All-American Rejects 3,362,528
5 Lips of an Angel / Hinder
1,371,907 5 Justin Timberlake 3,290,523
6 Hips Don’t Lie / Shakira
1,365,433 6 Pussycat Dolls 3,277,709
7 How To Save A Life / Fray
1,365,033 7 Red Hot Chili Peppers 3,254,306
8 Unwritten / Natasha Bedingfield
1,355,792 8 Nelly Furtado 3,052,457
9 Sexyback Main Vers. / Justin Timberlake
1,316,531 9 Eminem 2,950,113
10. Dani California(Alb..)/Red Hot Chili Peppers
1,284,677 10. Sean Paul 2,764,505


2006 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL SONGS
TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ALBUMS

(combines all versions of the same Song: 01/02/06 – 12/31/2006)
(01/02/2006-12/31/2006)


Title/Artist Units Sold Artist Units Sold
1 Bad Day / Daniel Powter
2,015,594 1 How to Save a Life / Fray
198,371
2 Promiscuous / Nelly Furtado
1,709,274 2 Continuum / John Mayer
176,522
3 Sexyback / Justin Timberlake
1,657,798 3 FutureSex/Love Songs / Justin Timberlake
141,809
4 Crazy / Gnarls Barkley
1,629,467
4 Curious George:Sing.. / Jack Johnson & Frie
134,611
5 You’re Beautiful / James Blunt
1,623,417
5 Back to Bedlam / James Blunt
131,434
6 Over My Head (Cable Car) / Fray
1,570,207 6 Soundtrack / High School Musical
123,280
7 How to Save a Life / Fray
1,559,704 7 Stadium Arcadium / Red Hot Chili Peppers
122,274
8 Temperature / Sean Paul
1,533,362 8 Taking the Long Way/ Dixie Chicks
122,075
9 Ridin’ / Chamillionaire
1,417,178 9 Fever You Can’t Sweat… /Panic!At the Disco
109,997
10. Hips Don’t Lie / Shakira
1,410,237 10. Me and My Gang / Rascal Flatts
105,808
2006 TOP TEN SELLING SEASONAL ALBUMS
TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA

(01/02/2006-12/31/2006)
(1991 – 12/31/2006)


Title/Artist Units Sold Artist Units Sold
1 Wintersong/Sarah Mclachlan 759,162 1 Come on Over / Shania Twain
15,408,533
2 Now Christmas 3/Various 648,254 2 Metallica / Metallica
14,819,905
3 Christmas Album/James Taylor 495,188 3 Jagged Little Pill / Alanis Morissette
14,513,313
4 Christmas Collection/ Il Divo 443,768 4 Millennium / Backstreet Boys
12,091,491
5 Lost Christmas Eve/ Trans-Siberian Orch. 372,683 5 Bodyguard / Soundtrack
11,789,552
6 Charlie Brown Christmas/Vince Guaraldi Trio 332,314 6 Supernatural / Santana
11,588,453
7 Very Larry Christmas/Larry the Cable Guy 312,125 7 Human Clay / Creed
11,483,557
8 Christmas Celebration/Celtic Woman 308,199 8 No Strings Attached / N Sync
11,099,051
9 Christmas Eve & Other../Trans Siberian Orch 288,639 9 Beatles 1 / Beatles
10,821,222
10. Cool Yule/ Bette Midler 271,312 10. Falling Into You / Celine Dion
10,752,658

Year End Factoids:

Overall music purchases in 2006 exceeded the 1 Billion sales plateau for the second consecutive year; 1.2 billion (2006) vs. 1 billion (2005).
The last two weeks of 2006, music sales exceeded 47.4 million (week ending 12-24) and 45.0 million (week ending 12/31), representing the 2 biggest weeks in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was Christmas week 2005 with 44.7 million music purchases.
More than 580 million digital tracks were purchased during 2006; an increase of 65% over 2005.
In the final reporting week of 2006 (12/25/06 – 12/31/06) the following sales records were broken:
-- Digital track sales blew away the previous sales record with
a new record high of 30.1 million track sales (previous
record was 19.9 million, week of 12/24-1/1/05).

-- Digital album sales reached the 1 million plateau for the
first time with sales exceeding 1.2 million (previous record
was 12/24/06 with 855,000 sales).

-- Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" track sets the mark for the
biggest selling week for an individual Digital Track, with
sales of 269,000 (previous record was Justin Timberlake's
"Sexyback" at 250,000 sales).

-- Three different songs broke the previous mark for the
biggest selling week for a Digital Song (combining all
versions of the same song) with Fergie's "Fergalicious"
setting the new record with sales of 295,000. Both Beyonce's
"Irreplaceable" (269,000) and Akon's "Smack That" (252,000)
had greater sales than the previous record set by Justin
Timberlake's "Sexyback" (previous record was 250,000 sales).
Rascal Flatts was the biggest selling artist, with nearly 5 million physical album sales and nearly 4 million digital track sales.
High School Musical Soundtrack was the top-selling album of year with sales exceeding 3.7 million units. The first Soundtrack to sell more than 3 million units in a year since the 8 Mile Soundtrack in 2002 and the first time since 1998 that a Soundtrack was the best selling album of year (Titanic Soundtrack – 9.3 million).
For the first time, a Digital Song broke the 2 million sales mark in a year: “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter (2,015,000)
22 Digital Songs exceeded the 1 million sales mark for the year compared to only 2 Digital Songs in 2005.
Internet album sales reached a record high of 29 million unit sales; an increase of 19% over 2005 sales total.
41% of all albums purchased were at a Mass Merchant outlet compared to 40% in 2005 and 38% in 2004 (35% in 2003 and 34% in 2002).
Chain music stores accounted for 41% of all album sales, compared to 45% in 2005 and 48% in 2004.
Independent music stores accounted for 6% of all album sales compared to 7% in 2005 and 9% in 2004.
Non-Traditional music outlets accounted for 12% of all album sales, compared to 9% in 2005 and 5% in 2004 (4% in 2003).
Latin music sales exceeded 37 million units, breaking the previous sales peak of 35 million in 2005. Latin album sales grew 5% from 2005.
Both Soundtrack albums and Classical albums gained in sales, up 19% and 23% respectively.
Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 1.2% compared to 2005.
Total album sales declined 4.9% compared to 2005.
Consistent with the previous two years, 20% of total album sales occurred during the Holiday Season (last 6 weeks of year).
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, has announced the most played songs at radio, at video, as well as Internet music streams for 2006.

Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Most Played Songs
Nielsen BDS: 2006 Top 10 Artist Airplay


Title/Artist Detections Artist Detections
1 Be Without You/Mary J. Blige 399,601 1 Nickelback 874,304
2 Unwritten/Natasha Bedingfield 342,283 2 Kelly Clarkson 786,810
3 Temperature/Sean Paul 327,664 3 Toby Keith 741,791
4 Me & U/ Cassie 317,865 4 Rascal Flatts 732,150
5 Hips Don’t Lie/ Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean 313,555 5 Tim McGraw 722,074
6 Promiscuous/ Nelly Furtado 297,980 6 Kenny Chesney 715,427
7 Bad Day/ Daniel Powter 295,374 7 George Strait 657,490
8 Check On It/ Beyonce feat. Slim Thug 292,023 8 Keith Urban 644,769
9 Over My Head (Cable Car)/ Fray 282,583 9 Mary J. Blige 629,967
10. So Sick/ Ne-Yo 279,663 10. Ne-Yo 578,336
Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Music Video Internet Streams
Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Internet Streams


Title/Artist Detections Title/Artist Detections
1 Hips Don’t Lie/Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean 50,494,051 1 Me & U/ Cassie 12,378,057
2 Check On It/ Beyonce feat. Slim Thug 16,309,914 2 Hips Don’t Lie/ Shakira feat. Wyclef 12,350,823
3 SOS/ Rihanna 15,437,252 3 Temperature/ Sean Paul 12,236,883
4 Stupid Girls/ Pink 15,016,999 4 You’re Beautiful/ James Blunt 12,108,879
5 Buttons/ Pussycat Dolls 14,549,037 5 Check On It/ Beyonce feat. Slim Thug 10,427,511
6 I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)/ T-Pain 14,332,778 6 So Sick/ Ne-Yo 10,089,266
7 Temperature/ Sean Paul 14,169,125 7 I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)/ T-Pain 10,034,849
8 Unfaithful/ Rihanna 13,952,532 8 Bad Day/ Daniel Powter 9,886,562
9 Beep/ Pussycat Dolls 13,785,499 9 Be Without You/ Mary J. Blige 9,870,366
10. Promiscuous/Nelly Furtado feat. Timberland 12,919,796 10. Crazy/ Gnarls Barkley 9,162,018

Nielsen Mobile (Nielsen RingScan) has announced the Top Selling Mastertones (partial year) and Polyphonic ringtones for 2006.

Nielsen RingScan: Top 10 Mastertones
Nielsen RingScan: Top 10 Polyphonic Ringtones

(Partial year - 09/04/2006-12/31/2006)
(01/02/2006-12/31/2006)


Title/Artist Sales Title/Artist Sales
1
Smack That/ Akon 1,574,362 1 Super Mario Bros./ Theme 747,900
2 Lips of An Angel/ Hinder 1,270,996 2 My Humps/ Black Eyed Peas 517,757
3 Sexyback/ Justin Timberlake 1,215,058 3 Grillz/ Nelly 499,935
4 Irreplaceable/ Beyonce 1,039,231 4 Ms. New Booty/ Bubba Sparxxx 455,550
5 We Fly High/ Jim Jones 1,012,949 5 Laffy Taffy/ D4L 367,106
6 Money Maker/ Ludacris 944,581 6 Pink Panther/ Theme 347,217
7 Chain Hang Low/ Jibbs 927,899 7 Gold Diger/ Kanye West 310,763
8 My Love/ Justin Timberlake 901,369 8 Halloween/ Movie Theme 291,077
9 I Wanna Love You/ Akon 884,912 9 Mission Impossible/ Theme 284,335
10. Walk It Out/ DJ Unk 753,487 10. Candy Shop/ 50 Cent 282,203