Rock was the biggest selling music genre of 2012.
Jack White. image by Ros O'Gorman.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, 102,500,000 rock albums sold during the year, an increase of 2% on the previous year.
The Rock figure would be even bigger if it included Alternative. Alternative as a stand alone genre sold 52,200,000, down 4.3%.
Metal has its own category. 31,900,000 metal albums sold during 2012.
The Top 10 genres in the USA for 2012 were:
1. Rock (102,500,000)
2. Alternative 52,000,000)
3. R&B (49,700,000)
4. Country 44,600,000)
5. Metal (31,900,000)
6. Rap (24,200,000)
7. Christian/Gospel (22,900,000)
8. Soundtracks (12,300,000)
9. Latin (9,700,000)
10. Dance/Electronic (8,700,000)
Other categories were:
Jazz (8,100,000)
Classical (7,500,000)
New Age (1,700,000)
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