Can you believe we’re already past the midpoint of 2017? That means it’s time for us to crack open our books and reveal the data we’ve collected from the Discogs Database and Marketplace for a better look at music sales in 2017 and Discogs’ growth. And, once again, we’re comparing some of our numbers to the Nielsen Music Mid-Year Report. The Nielsen Music report provides comprehensive insights into what people are listening to and how they are listening. This data informs our understanding of how the music industry – and the music consumers – are changing.

So, read on for some mid-year highlights and leave us a comment to let us know how you think the music industry will change in the next six months. We can’t wait to hear what’s coming next.



Mid-Year Highlights:

Contrary to Nielsen Music reporting that physical album sales are down (-17%) with a total of 46.9M sold, Discogs’ Marketplace sales are up (+15.6%) with a total of 4,584,637 sold thus far.

The Discogs Database has shown growth year-over-year (+8.22%) with a total of 698,301 submissions during the first half of 2017. The highest number of submissions were of the vinyl variety with a total of 318,238 – equal to over 45% of the submissions.

The most popular physical music format sold this year has been vinyl , with an increase in sales year-over-year (+13.92%). However, CDs have seen the most growth in sales (+23.23%).

New Release sales from Discogs have seen extraordinary growth year-over-year (+123.81%) with a total of 90,453 sales, compared to last year’s 40,415 sales. Catalog sales (releases 18-month and older) have also increased (+11.91%) over last year.

The most popular genres sold in the Discogs Marketplace are Rock Electronic , and Funk/Soul . However, both Classical (+35.42%) and Blues (+20.95%) genres have seen a large year-over-year increase in sales.

Dive deeper into the state of the music industry with some infographics, and download the full report here.

Nielsen vs. Discogs: Growth in Physical Music Sales





Nielsen vs. Discogs: Top 10 Vinyl Album Sales



Discogs Database Growth

Get the full song and dance on music sales in 2017. Download our Discogs 2017 Mid-Year Database and Marketplace Analysis .



