Friday, August 2, 2013 1:00pm ET by  
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American album sales hit new historic lows

It has been revealed that U.S. sales of albums have fallen to "new historic lows" over the last five weeks.

Neilsen SoundScan explained that this 35-day stretch is the longest consecutive period of time that 5 million units per week haven't been shifted.

Billboard.com reports that the week ending July 28 saw just 4.68 million American album sales, which is the lowest figure since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan back in May 1991. The second all-time low came from the previous week, when just 4.71 million units were sold.

While the source of dwindling sales is yet to be pinpointed, the rise of streaming services such as Spotify, illegal downloading or the fact that the summer months are usually the least profitable in the music industry could be responsible.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that although Spotify has managed to double its revenue, it had made significant losses of $77.4 million (£51 million) over the past calendar year that were more than those from 2011.

 

 

 

 

Watch 'leaked footage' from Lady Gaga's upcoming new album, 'ARTPOP', below: