The Big Apple bested even Nashville when looking at the sheer number of country albums sold.

According to Nielsen and Billboard’s Mid-year Music Industry Report, overall album sales, digital album sales, catalog album sales and vinyl album sales all saw increases over the same six-month period in 2010.

Music sales in the U.S. are up 1.6 percent in 2011, according to The Nielsen Company, as digital album and track sales saw dramatic growth through May 8. Digital retailers received more than half of all music transactions, propelling a 12.4 percent growth in sales over last year.

Following its season premier in April, the music-themed TV show “Glee” saw track downloads from its four compilations jump from 50-350K in the first week. The show’s latest “Showstoppers” album topped the Billboard charts this week as digital sales of all “Glee”-related songs exceeded 500K.

Performers like Bruce Springsteen who performed at last year’s Super Bowl see significant boosts to album, catalog, and digital sales.

2009 music purchases in the U.S. were up 2.1% over 2008 figures, marking the second year in a row that sales exceeded 1.5B units sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Hit digital albums have lost market share to far less popular titles. But hit digital tracks have gained market share over the years.

Artists such as Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Coldplay and Flo Rida helped consumers make more decisions to buy music than ever for the fourth year in a row according to Nielsen SoundScan. While total album sales slipped 14% from 500.5 to 428.4M in 2008, sales of digital albums were up 32% from 50M to 65.8M in 2008. Sales of individual digital tracks also grew, soaring 27% over the previous year’s sales. Ironically, in the new digital age, sales of vinyl LPs were at an all-time high (1.88M).
More SoundScan data …