U.S. Album Sales Sink to Historic Lows, But People Are Listening More Than Ever 

It’s the worst year (so far) for music sales since the 1991 debut of SoundScan (now Nielsen Music). Album sales, including track-equivalent albums (TEA, whereby 10 track sales equal one album unit) are down 16.9 percent in the first half of this year. But sales figures no longer tell the whole story of the record business.

Source: U.S. Record Industry Sees Album Sales Sink to Historic Lows (Again) — But People Are Listening More Than Ever | Billboard