14 DAY TRIAL // It usually takes time for an album to hit platinum, that is to sell at least one million copies in the US, but by this time of the year, at least one album would have managed those figures and entered music history. But a recent report by Forbes reveals that no album by any artist has managed to go platinum in 2014.
The same report outlines the fact that vinyl sales have increased when compared with 2013, which is a good thing, considering that until a few years ago, vinyls were thought to be on their way out. Still, no matter how many vinyls were sold, no album has gone platinum yet.
By comparison, in 2013, by this time, Justin Timberlake had already gone platinum with his “The 20/20 Experience” album. This year however, the only album that managed to move more than 1 million copies was the “Frozen” soundtrack.
Among the albums with the best shot of going platinum in 2014 are Beyonce's self-entitled release and Lorde's “Pure Heroine,” both of which are situated at the moment around the 750,000 copies mark. But it needs to be pointed out that even so, with a quarter of the way to go, both these albums were released in 2013.
In terms of singles, the industry is again registering a decline. If last year 83 songs managed to go platinum, this year there is a decline, with just 60 songs hitting the 1 million mark. The main factor for this is the decrease in digital sales in the last year, which may or may not be connected to the financial crisis.