Rock Music outsells Rap in 2010

In a recent article in XXL Magazine online, one of the things that it mentions is how in 2010 rock music out sold rap.

Although it seemed like Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, & T.I. ruled the airwaves, rock music surprisingly dominated the sales market. In a story in New York’s Daily News, writer Jim Farber took a close look at the Nielsen SoundScan figures to discover that rock was the most profitable genre in last year.

Hip-hop did in fact attained several serious accomplishments in 2010 – including earning a four percent sales increase in sales (the only musical genre to experience a sales increase) and boasting the highest selling album of the year with Eminem’s Recovery (3.5 million units and counting)—rock music moved more albums due to the popularity of classic rock acts back catalogue sales.

According to SoundScan, 103 million rock discs were purchased last year, while only 27 million rap LPs were sold. If alternative and metal CDs are taken into consideration, then that bumps rock’s overall numbers to 188 million.

“There isn’t any genre that translates better to catalogue sales than rock,” David Bukula, Nielsen’s senior vice president told the Daily News. “Last year, 55% of our overall track sales came from catalogue.”

“Who’s going back to rediscover DMX right now, as opposed to who’s just discovering the Beatles?” Bakula added.

It sounds as if the rap game needs Short Kut to drop an album to boost sales. lol. Who knows, maybe with Dr. Dre’s long awaited Detox album, Lil Wayne’s new album and a few more hip hop heavy hitters that number can change in 2011.