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Nielsen Releases 2016 U.S. Year-End Music Report

8 minute read | January 2017

Highly Anticipated Report Provides Comprehensive Coverage of the Year in Music

New York Jan. 5, 2017 – Nielsen, the industry’s leading source for music data and insights, today released its 2016 U.S. Year-End Report for the 12-month period ending Dec. 29, 2016. This highly anticipated report provides comprehensive coverage of the year in music from the coveted Nielsen Music Year-End charts, presented by Billboard, to insights on the most important industry trends from sales and streaming to social media and overall consumer engagement across today’s most popular platforms.The Nielsen Music U.S. Year-End Report confirms that the music industry experienced steady and consistent growth in 2016, with overall volume up 3% over 2015, fueled by a 76% increase in on-demand audio streams compared to last year. On-demand audio streams surpassed 250B streams in 2016, and overall on-demand streams (including video) have reached 431B. The industry did experience sales decreases in nearly all formats, particularly digital sales. However, the growth in streaming was more than enough to off-set the declines, which resulted in a positive year for the music business.“The music industry continues to grow at a healthy rate, and 2016 showed us that the landscape is evolving even more quickly than we have seen with other format shifts,” said David Bakula, SVP of Music Industry Insights. “Thanks to the rapid emergence of new technologies and channels for discovery and engagement, consumers are finding and listening to more music in new ways.”Drake’s Views release was the leader in total volume (albums + track equivalent albums + audio on- demand streaming equivalent albums) this year, followed by Adele’s 25 and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. For the second year in a row, Adele’s 25 led the year’s album sales in the U.S., marking only the second time in history that the same album has been the top seller in two consecutive calendar years (the first being Adele’s 21 album in 2011 & 2012). Vinyl LP sales, which have reached an all-time Nielsen Music-era high volume of 13M units, increased for the 11th consecutive year in 2016. The top vinyl LP of the year was Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface, with David Bowie’s Blackstar and Adele’s 25 finishing close behind.The biggest song of the year in terms of total activity (sales + audio streaming equivalents) was Drake’s “One Dance,” followed by “Closer” by Chainsmokers (feat. Halsey) and “Work” by Rihanna (feat. Drake). Topping the Digital Songs Sales charts this year were “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” by Justin Timberlake, “Closer” by The Chainsmokers (feat. Halsey) and “My House” by Flo Rida.

Other notable insights and trends from the 2016 Nielsen Music U.S. Year-End Report, include:

Press Inquiries

Mat Newman mnewman@rogersandcowan.comChris Robins crobins@rogersandcowan.comBrian Giglio bgiglio@rogersandcowan.com

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers Watch and Buy. Nielsen’s Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services across all devices where content—video, audio and text—is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry’s only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen provides its clients with both world-class measurement as well as analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries that cover more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.