Best Selling Albums of 2010: Eminem, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and Train

The music industry is going through yet another transformation due to all the free and legal ways to listen to music online these days. After the death of the CD market, the industry shifted to digital music sales, which, initially, had a great start. Now, sales growth was down to 8% in 2010, a major downfall compared to the 27% growth in 2008. iTunes has also increased the price of top-selling singles.

Jeff Castelaz, co-founder and CEO of Dangerbird Records said of the album market: “This felt like a really tough year. This was the year everyone had to get used to the new normal. There’s no doubt it’s harder to sell a record. There’s so much noise and fragmentation. It’s harder to say ‘If we get a band on the radio, we’ll sell 50,000 singles.”

Still, there were a few albums that make it big. First was the rapper Eminem’s “Recovery,” which sold 3.4 million copies last year. Following close behind was “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum which sold 3.1 million, as well as Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now” which sold 2.9 million. Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” sold 4.2 million copies.