Mono-Genre Watch: 2012 End-Of-Year Sales

The Mono-Genre Theory in short states that all popular music is coalescing into one big genre where influences and styles from country, rap, rock, blues etc. coexist without any true lines defining their differences. As the mono-genre forms, micro-genres pop up, and the popularity of independent music rises as disenfranchised consumers seek out choice. The good thing about the formation of the mono-genre is the breakdown of musical prejudices. The bad thing is the death of contrast and diversity in popular music, a lack of choice, and the bleeding of regional influence out of popular music.

In recent years when the end-of-year sales numbers are released by Nielsen Soundscan, it has revealed evidence of this mono-genre coagulation. 2012 was no different. NPR even got in on the game, calling 2012 The Return of the “Monoculture.” Every genre except for the two super-genres of rock and country saw sales decreases in 2012.

  • Alternative – down 4.3%
  • Christian/Gospel – down 3.4%
  • Classical – down 20.5%
  • Dance/Electronic – down 12.0%
  • Jazz – down 26.2%
  • Latin – down 17.6%
  • Metal – down 0.3%
  • New Age – down 12.9%
  • R&B – down 10.2%
  • Rap – down 11.4%
  • Soundtracks – down 5.2%

Rock sales were up 2%, and country sales were up 4.2%.

With all these declining numbers, it may seem like the music industry is still in the tailspin that plagued it in music’s lost decade of the 2000’s, but overall music sales were only down a very moderate 1.8% in 2012. 2011 will go down as the year the music industry finally righted the ship and stabilized from the fluidity the move to digitization caused. 2012 may go down as the year that a lack of substance stalled this upward trend.

music-sales-chart-2012

(chart from Glorious Noise)

Rock has always been the most dominant American genre in regards to sales because it is America’s “catch-all” term for music. But as time goes on, country is acquiring some “catch-all” attributes as well, accounting for sales from artists that sonically are much more akin to mainstream arena rock than country. Meanwhile looking into the sales numbers for rock, many bands at the very top could just as well be called country, and are considered country, Americana, or “roots” by many fans and industry types. Babel by Mumford & Sons was 2012’s 4th best-selling album and artist, with 1,463,000 units sold. Sales by other Americana artists like The Avett Brothers and The Lumineers also accounted for rock sales despite their heavy roots influence.

Within the mono-genre theory is the idea that aside from rock, the two most dominant sonic influences in its formation would be country and rap. However rap sales were significantly down in 2012, bucking the trend of being one of the few areas of strength during music’s decade-long decline. Similarly, unlike 2011 when Jason Aldean’s country-rap “Dirt Road Anthem” was the best-selling single in all of country, 2012 did not see either a dominant country-rap single, album, or artist. Rap is still asserting itself as an influence in country, but may not be finding the commercial strength it needs to stick. 2012 mono-genre songs like Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” underperformed to expectations, never cracking Billboard’s Top 10 on the country chart.

Meanwhile country dominated the top tiles and artists for 2012, with Taylor Swift coming in as the 2nd-highest selling album and artist, and Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Carrie Underwood all securing top 10 spots; the first time country has accounted for 5 of the top 10 spots in the history of SoundScan tracking. It’s also worth noting that Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Red was only given 10 weeks at the end of 2012 to tally up sales for the genre.

2012 Top Ten Selling Albums 2012 Top Ten Selling Artists
(Combines All Album Sales)
Title/Artist Units Sold Artist Units Sold
1 21 / ADELE 4,414,000 1 ADELE 5,167,000
2 RED / TAYLOR SWIFT 3,107,000 2 TAYLOR SWIFT 4,062,000
3 UP ALL NIGHT / ONE DIRECTION 1,616,000 3 ONE DIRECTION 2,978,000
4 BABEL / MUMFORD & SONS 1,463,000 4 MUMFORD & SONS 2,149,000
5 TAKE ME HOME / ONE DIRECTION 1,340,000 5 JUSTIN BIEBER 1,897,000
6 BELIEVE / JUSTIN BIEBER 1,324,000 6 JASON ALDEAN 1,855,000
7 BLOWN AWAY / CARRIE UNDERWOOD 1,203,000 7 WHITNEY HOUSTON 1,789,000
8 TAILGATES & TANLINES / LUKE BRYAN 1,105,000 8 MAROON 5 1,540,000
9 TUSKEGEE / LIONEL RICHIE 1,071,000 9 CARRIE UNDERWOOD 1,497,000
10 NIGHT TRAIN / JASON ALDEAN 1,024,000 10 LUKE BRYAN 1,432,000

Once again the sales numbers hint that the mainstream music public seems to be yearning for substance. While super hits like Goyte’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style” dominated the download numbers, Adele’s 21 was the best-selling album in 2012. That’s right, an album that was released in February of 2011, and was 2011’s best-selling album, retains its crown in 2012 as the industry continues to labor to find legitimate titles and artists that can deliver both substance and commercial viability.

Of course physical sales were down once again, with CD sales declining 13%. But vinyl continued its upswing, accounting for 4.6 million in sales, breaking the previous record of 3.9 million in 2011. Even more interesting, 67% of that vinyl was purchased at independent music stores. These numbers parallel the point that the mono-genre’s formation will cause a flight to independent music by independently-minded consumers seeing choice.

Looking from a broad perspective, the 2012 music sales numbers continue to corroborate the theory of the formation of a mono-genre, with the one important addendum being the possible decline of the rap influence, and the rising dominance of the country and roots influence; a trend that promises to be carried in part into 2013 by the continued commercial success of Taylor Swift’s Red.

See Complete 2012 Nielsen SoundScan Data

 

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