While we're personally surprised it took this long to happen, it appears that 2011 was the year that digital music sales topped physical sales for the first time ever. But here's the thing: it wasn't by that much. CNN Money reports that digital sales accounted for 50.3 percent of all music sales last year.
So yeah, not a huge win for the land of mp3s and what-have-you, but still, the gap will only grow bigger as the years pass. At least, that's the case if the trends continue; digital sales jumped by 8.4 percent while physical sales dropped 5 percent.
The good news about all of this, though, is that album sales, as a whole, were up 1.3 percent in 2011 over the previous year. And you know who's to thank? Adele and her sophomore album, 21, which pushed a total of 5.8 million units. Quick, someone make a joke to Adele about how the music industry needs "Someone Like You."
[via CNN]
