Lately various countries added track sales and streaming to their national album chart. And from this week on, the biggest music market of the world, the USA, makes the same. The official Billboard Top 200 Album Chart combined now album sales (conversion factor 1:1), digital track sales (10:1) and streaming (1500:1). And it seems that other countries follow this example in the next time. Let us look back in the past: with the breakthrough of the Compact Disc at the end of the Eighties and the earlier Nineties, the global album sales grew strongly with a peak in the second half of the Nineties. But now, for over 10 years the global album sales shrink dramatically. What happened?? The main reason for this decline was the new market of the Digital Tracks! Today many people don't buy a complete album as before, but they looking for the best tunes of an album and purchase only these songs. Since one, two years there's another 'problem'... Streaming! More and more people having a subscription of Spotify or other streaming-providers and buying no longer music in digital or physical formats. That's why the downward momentum of the global album sales accelerated this year and for the first time ever also the digital track sales are on the way down. Several times in the last months i thought about it, to give it up the Global Album Chart, because the worldwide sales fall further and further (certainly also in the coming years). I will summarize again: the Digital Track Sales and Streaming are the reasons for the decay of the global album sales, and that's why we follow the example of the US-Billboard Chart and other... from next year on we'll integrate Track Sales and Streaming tentatively for a hidden Global Album Chart. But the official hitlist on our Media Traffic website remains provisionally a pure sales chart (by popular request), till more countries and key markets switch over to a combined album chart ... and now to the current hitlist: as expected the clear winner of the this week is Australian's rock legend AC/DC. The band is more than 40 years on stage and their 17th studio album 'Rock Or Bust' shoots atop with 806.000 initial sales. Sorted by countries it sold 246.000 in Germany, 171.900 in the USA, 92.800 in United Kingdom, 91.800 in France, 31.000 in Canada, and 26.700 in Australia. In Germany 'Rock Or Bust' is the fastest selling album since more than seven years. Only Herbert Grönemeyer's '12' moved more copies in its first week at retail (March, 2007). Back to AC/DC, their former album 'Black Ice' was a big surprise, when it exploded with stellar 1.762.000 copies in the week 45, 2008. And it sold nearly 7 million copies to date. Taylor Swift's '1989' slides down at no.2 with a 12% sales decline to 334.000 copies, a total of 3.728.000 after only six weeks on the tally. Still at no.3 is this year's most successful Xmas album, 'That's Christmas To Me' by Pentatonix with another 234.000 sales. Second highest debut at no.8 and the clear new no.1 in United Kingdom is former boy-group legend Take That. Their new smash 'III' started with 158.000 units, the most of it from UK (144.500). No.1 in Japan and new at no.13 globally with 81.100 copies is 'Love Ballade' by Exile Atsushi, lead vocalist of the super group Exile. Some additional sales stats: 'Racine Carrée' by Stromae sold 12.000 copies last week and reaches a total of 2.606.000 so far, 'Native' by One Republic sold 16.000 units last week, 1.733.000 so far, 'Ultraviolence' by Lana Del Rey sold 9.000 units last week and has a total of 1.173.000 units so far, 'Xscape' by Michael Jackson sold 1.511.000 copies so far, 5 Seconds Of Summer's self-titled album 1.227.000, and 'Pure Heroine' by Lorde 2.840.000.

Lately various countries added track sales and streaming to their national album chart. And from this week on, the biggest music market of the world, the USA, makes the same. The official Billboard Top 200 Album Chart combined now album sales (conversion factor 1:1), digital track sales (10:1) and streaming (1500:1). And it seems that other countries follow this example in the next time. Let us look back in the past: with the breakthrough of the Compact Disc at the end of the Eighties and the earlier Nineties, the global album sales grew strongly with a peak in the second half of the Nineties. But now, for over 10 years the global album sales shrink dramatically. What happened?? The main reason for this decline was the new market of the Digital Tracks! Today many people don't buy a complete album as before, but they looking for the best tunes of an album and purchase only these songs. Since one, two years there's another 'problem'... Streaming! More and more people having a subscription of Spotify or other streaming-providers and buying no longer music in digital or physical formats. That's why the downward momentum of the global album sales accelerated this year and for the first time ever also the digital track sales are on the way down. Several times in the last months i thought about it, to give it up the Global Album Chart, because the worldwide sales fall further and further (certainly also in the coming years). I will summarize again: the Digital Track Sales and Streaming are the reasons for the decay of the global album sales, and that's why we follow the example of the US-Billboard Chart and other... from the week 2, 2015 on, we'll integrate Track Sales and Streaming to the Global Album Chart. It was a very difficult decision, but believe it or not, a pure sales-based album chart has no future! The additional sales from Digital Tracks and Streaming bringing a fair compensation and incidentally more stability!... and now to the current hitlist: with the first full week of the holiday season the most albums in the Top 40 showing sales increases, also Taylor Swift's million seller '1989', which returns to the summit of the Global Album Chart for a third week, driven by a 21% sales boost to 380.000. After five weeks on the tally the album moved a total of 3.394.000 copies. One Direction's 'Four' started easily at no.1 last week with 881.000 copies, now it slides at no.2 after second-week sales of 312.000. It seems that this year's most successful holiday album will be 'That's Christmas For Me' by the American A-Cappella group Pentatonix. The set makes another big jump from no.7 to no.3 after a massive 118% sales explosion to 235.000 copies. Michael Bublé's 'Christmas' classic slips two places at no.14, but wins also considerable 62% in sales to 89.000 copies. Highest debut this week is the first best-of compilation from Eminem's Shady label. 'ShadyXV' bows at no.4 with 206.000 units. David Guetta arrives at no.7 with his new effort 'Listen' and 152.000 sales, shy behind at no.10 starts the South Korean boy band BigBang with their compilation 'Best Of 2006-2014' and 120.000 sales. Some additional sales stats: '.5: The Gray Chapter' by Slipknot sold 26.000 copies last week and reaches a total of 504.000 so far, 'Nostalgia' by Annie Lennox sold 21.000 units last week, 184.000 so far, 'Popular Problems' by Leonard Cohen sold 16.000 units last week and has a total of 427.000 units so far, Beyoncé's self-titled album sold 3.564.000 copies so far, 'Ghost Stories' by Coldplay 2.893.000, and 'X' by Ed Sheeran 2.647.000.

The gods of all those Asian girlie idol groups, AKB 48, landing their 18th global number one smash! 'Kibôteki Refrain' shoots atop with 551.000 points after stellar initial sales in Japan, as usual. Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space' remains denied the victory, last week Band Aid 30's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' exploded atop with 364.000 points (this week at no.16 with 135.000 points and this week AKB 48 rules clearly. So 'Blank Space' holds tight at no.2, but wins another 14% in points to 408.000. Meghan Trainor's 'All About The Bass' is also still at no.3 with 304.000 points and jumps over the 6 million points border in total after 19 weeks on the tally. That's why the song debuts at no.361 on the ALL TIME CHART. One song from the soundtrack of the new 'Hunger Games' movie makes headlines, composed and produced by James Newton Howard and performed by actress Jennifer Lawrence, 'The Hanging Tree' becoming a huge worldwide success and bows at no.9 this week with 203.000 points. Outside the Top 40 waiting among other Iggy Azalea feat. Mo's 'Beg For It' at no.49, Fergie's 'L.A. Love' at no.53, Big Sean feat. E 40's 'I Don't F**k With You' at no.56, and Take That's 'These Days' at no.55 for their first appearance on the big list. 

The fourth version of the legendary Xmas charity song 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' exploded with a big bang atop the Global Track Chart next week and 364.000 points! The original version from 1984 was six weeks at the summit. Especially in United Kingdom it was a spectacular success, with more than 750.000 sales in the start-week and 3,7 million sales to date. it's the second most successful single of all time in UK, only Elton John's necrology 'Candle In The Wind' sold more with 4,9 million. The second version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas' from 1989, produced by Stock / Aitken / Waterman, reached no.8 globally and ten years ago the third version went to on.2. The line-up of the new Band Aid outfit included, as usual, many of British music giants, like Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Coldplay, One Direction, Ellie Goulding, Clean Bandit, Emeli Sandé, Rita Ora, Bastille, Sinéad O'Connor, Bono and of course Bob Geldof. The earnings of the song go to the victims of the Ebola tragedy in West-Africa. Back to the current tally, at no.2 remains Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space' with 358.000 points and the leader of the last eight weeks, Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Bass', throws down at no.3 with 296.000 points. One of the biggest hits of 2014, 'Rather Be' by Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne, is on the way out of the Top 40, in its 44th week on the tally it falls from no.31 to no.39 with 82.000 points. But at the last moment it enters the ALL TIME CHART at no.347 with a total of 6.070.000 points. By the way, the new Clean Bandit smash 'Real Love' lands at no.41 this week. Also outside the Top 40 waiting among other Toy feat. Crush & Beenzino's 'U&I' at no.45, Big Sean feat. E 40's 'I Don't F**k With You' at no.54 and I Love Makonnen feat. Drake's 'Tuesday' at no.55 for their first appearance on the big list.