Ok, so I work in the Entertainment Industry. I do get to meet tons of personalities from movies, television and of course music. I also get access to some interesting stats when published.

My information is your information and here are some interesting fact about the floundering music industry from the latest “Nielsen Company 2009 Year-End Music Industry Report.“

1. 2009 Digital Music Accounts for 40% of Total U.S. Music Purchases

This one is crazy but not at all unexpected. People are not buying physical media. Digital is just so much more convenient and portable. Just about all the big music retail chains are gone like dinosaurs or typewriters. Only Walmart and Target are still selling CD’s in decent numbers.

2. Rap music sales are down 20.9% from last year.

This is a HUGE drop. Hip-hop is no longer the pop culture darling it was 5-10 years back. I have been saying hip-hop is dead for the past 4 years and the trends are now catching up with this.

3. Michael Jackson sold 8,286,000 albums in 2009.

8 MILLION Albums. More than any other artist. Taylor Swift was second with 4,643,000 thanks to Kanye West’s douchery no doubt. Jay-Z not in the top 10 and yes, Eminem sold more than Black Eye peas.

Speaking of album sales… Eminem sold more than Jay-Z. Blueprint 3 sold 1,515,000 and Eminem sold 1,735,000. Taylor Swift sold the most at 3,217,000.

4. Nelly Sold more albums than Jay-Z in the last decade. Eminem > HOV!

Based on Album sales from 01/01/2000-11/01/2009. Nelly sold 21,232,000 albums. Jay-Z sold 20,424,000 and Eminem blew everyone out the water SELLING MORE THAN THE BEATLES this decade. Eminem sold 32,241,000 albums.

SOURCE: “Nielsen Company 2009 Year-End Music Industry Report.“