The only album to cross the million copy mark? The Frozen soundtrack.
The music industry’s slow decline is no surprise, but Forbes reports a new low: not one artist’s album has gone platinum in 2014. For comparison, five different albums had hit the mark by this time last year, including Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.
After the unstoppable Frozen soundtrack, the year’s best-sellers are albums released in 2013: Beyoncé’s self-titled surprise album and Lorde’s Pure Heroine. The fourth album on the list was released this year: country star Eric Church’s Outsiders.
The news is not much better on the singles front: 60 songs have gone platinum, compared to 83 last year. And while Q4 usually sees a bump in sales, record industry insiders don’t expect the release of any pop albums that could buoy the overall numbers. Adele — whose 21 was the top album in both 2011 and 2012 — is not expected to release an album until 2015.