(just an estimate, because the data do not include self-produced albums by musicians, small labels or illegal CDs)
(sponsored by the AMM Music Group )
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Rock |
32.5 % |
includes a broad variety of musical styles - and has been falling constantly since 1994 |
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Pop |
9.3 % |
no fixed style - also falling constantly from almost 11 % in 1993 |
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Country |
14.5 % |
typical for USA - comparable to local language folkloric music in other countries - market share has fallen from almost 17 % in 1995 |
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R & B |
12 % |
includes soul, old-school soul, funk and some dance, but not rap ; share has risen from below 10 % in 1994 |
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Rap |
just below 9 % |
has its ups and downs - but rising from under 7 % in 1995 |
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Gospel |
slightly above 4 % |
not purely gospel - includes most "Christian" music - currently rising strongly |
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Jazz |
slightly above 3.3 % |
higher then in most european countries , rising from below 3 % in 1993 |
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Classical |
about 3.3 % |
down from the early 90s, but always staying between between 2.5 and 4 % |
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Oldies |
below 1 % |
nostalgia does not work as well as some people would like to think - at least in music sales. For radio this format has a much higher market share. |
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Soundtracks /film music |
below 0.8 % |
low and strongly falling from peaks of over 1 % - but mainly from some chart albums |
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New Age |
below 0.7 % |
falling from above 1 % |
There are quite few other styles including children's albums, spoken word, latin songs and other foreign language inports. Dance can be split between Pop and R&B categories - depending wether it is based on straight, unbroken ryhthms like euro-dance /techno or on funky rhythms like hip/hop.
Overall one tendency is clear: the smaller styles tend to grow, while the main strong styles tend to fall during the last few years. One problem with some of the categories is the difficulty of placing the most successful albums in them. Where should Alanis Morisette (rock/pop?), Sting (jazz/pop?), Kenny G (jazz/pop?), Al Jarreau (jazz/pop?) be placed?
If we look at the popularity of radio formats in the USA, one further assumption can be made very clearly - that high radio popularity of a style or specific artist does not directly relate to CD-sales. In the USA the so-called "smooth jazz" radio format has a radio market share in most big cities of around 6 % to 15 % - which does not correlate to CD-sales at all. Very similar is the situation with oldies - a lot of people like the radio playing old recordings in the background while they are working or eating, but they would never buy these CDs.
One further clear interpretation of these data is that the often used journalistic hype that a specific musical style is at a certain time becoming very popular and the new musical trend is nothing but a ridiculous dream, created by promotion teams and journalists who have to have some theme to sell a short trend story. It is never a specific style that is dominating the music market, but individual products (albums) by specific musicians.
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Last Updated: 27.April 1997