As Digital Gains, Album Sales Plunge 11%

CDs continue to go the way of the 8-track, losing further ground to digital music. Another big drop in CD sales is being driven by the closure of Virgin stores and reduced shelf space at outlets like Target. CD sales are off 16% over the last 12 months and total album sales have dropped 11%, Variety reports.

Digital's share of the market climbed to 15.5% of all album sales, or 31.6 million units. The top three albums of 2008 all come from Universal Music Group: Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static, and Mariah Carey's E=MC2. (More music industry stories.)