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thedoug thedoug
 
M$5 December 17, 2008 01:32 AM

How many albums are released per year / were released last year in the United States.

Helpful sources would likely be SoundScan and the RIAA, but I can only find numbers for total sales and manufacturing counts. What I'm really looking for is how many different albums were released. I'd be happy with either a yearly average or any exact number.
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benau benau
 
 December 17, 2008 02:28 AM
Somewhere between 27000 - 35000 are released in the US each year.

27000 is cited in a rather vague fashion (See: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/record-label2.htm) and attributed to RIAA.

But there is quite some speculation about the truth of this figure which apparently came from an article titled "The Cost of a CD," which was released at the beginning of 2002. In it RIAA stated that in the previous two years (2000 and 2001) an average of 27,000 new releases were issued.
(See http://www.tinfoilmusic.net/copyright-laws-a-news/90-dmca/684-riaa-lies-at-dmca-hearing)

Though I doubt you will look at the article in Wikipedia that is being suggested, for the record: folks over at Wikipedia are suggesting that the 'List of Albums Released in 2007' should be deleted (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Albums_released_in_2007)

Instead, you should refer to this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2007_albums
Asker's Rating:
• My (independent but verified) sources ended up bringing about 23,000 for 2007 and 37,000 titles for 2008. Right on the money.


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thedoug thedoug
 
December 17, 2008 02:47 AM
You're definitely on the right track, and likely pretty much right on it (matches the numbers that I've been finding / working from my side this evening). The wikipedia items are very funny and a little frightening for a number of reasons. I'm awarding you the $5.

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sgtoox sgtoox
 
December 17, 2008 01:41 AM
4,467 different music albums were released in the US in 2007
3,387 different music albums have been release so far in 2008 in the US
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2007_albums


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sgtoox sgtoox
 
December 17, 2008 02:31 AM
i know wikipedia is hardly a sure-fire source
but these numbers are pretty close to projections made by MTV about how many would be released. There is a complete list compiled on the source i referenced. These numbers include many albums of lesser known record companies but do not include online albums of small myspace bands and such.

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kgusano kgusano
 
December 17, 2008 01:44 AM
According to Wikipedia, in 2008 there were 891 (of course this doesn't count the never-ending number to self-released garage band albums.)
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2008


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ppalmer21 ppalmer21
 
December 17, 2008 01:45 AM
I don't think this can be answered as written. Do you mean by the "major" labels?

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shibbyman2... shibbyman2...
 
December 17, 2008 01:46 AM
I think it would be difficult to even guess how many are released a year, because you are also dealing with an unknown number of small bands that release albums that may not be well known. I think you should refine your search to a specific genre.

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powerfulma... powerfulma...
 
December 17, 2008 01:46 AM
albums per year unpredictable

pls see the list of albums released in 2007


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2007

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coreychare... coreychare...
 
December 17, 2008 02:01 AM
There is no definitive source on this. (Wikipedia can't be considered a reliable source either.)

Albums are released in many different ways nowadays. Not only are albums released via 'brick & mortar' but there are also digital only versions released. Not all digital albums go through the major sites (i.e. iTunes), but some are directly released through the artist's own sites. Also, there are so many independent artists out there it's almost impossible to begin to calculate this.
And to top the matter that digital albums can be released anywhere in the world and be available anywhere else.

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ginerc ginerc
 
December 17, 2008 02:05 AM
You could try MetaCritic.com's Advanced search page.

http://apps.metacritic.com//search/music.jsp

Specify the Album release dates you are interested and see how many results you come up with.

When I did it, I got the following results:

755 between 1/1/2008 and 12/31/2008
485 between 1/1/2007 and 12/31/2007
506 between 1/1/2006 and 12/31/2006
477 between 1/1/2005 and 12/31/2005

I wouldn't necessarily say this is a definitive list, but Wikipedia also lists 891 on their "Albums released in 2008" page. We obviously have a couple weeks to go, but I think this could be a start.
Source(s):
http://apps.metacritic.com//search/music.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2008


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marcel m marcel m
 
December 17, 2008 02:35 AM
Well you are in luck my friend.The total number of albums released in the United States last year was exactly 867. I can even give you individual monthly and daily break downs.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2007


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