Even though the Black Friday weekend had even more shopping hours this year -- thanks to merchants opening their stores on Thanksgiving Day itself -- sales slumped enough that some industry executives are worried that it's a harbinger for how the overall holiday shopping season will perform.
According to Nielsen Music, album sales declined 15.2 percent for the week ending Nov. 30, when sales were 7.28 million units, versus the nearly 8.6 million units scanned last year during the corresponding week ending Dec. 1. That decline is significantly higher than the 12.3 percent decline in album sales that the industry has experienced so far this year.
Merchants say they have their fingers crossed that the weak opening will not carry over throughout the remaining holiday shopping days this year. While overall sales were depressed, there were a couple of bright spots.
For one, the online CD sales and mail-order sector saw sales increase by 16.5 percent this year, producing just above 1 million units in sales. In addition, vinyl album sales jumped nearly 50 percent to 259,000 units from 173,000 units, thanks to the Record Store Day "Back To Black" titles. According to the Record Store Day website, about 100 titles were offered at indie record stores across the U.S.
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