Digital downloads push CD sales down 20%

San Francisco (CA) - Sales of CDs in the US for the first three months of 2007 were 20% less than the same period last year.

From the beginning of the year to March 18, about 89 million CDs were sold, according to industry tracker Nielsen Soundscan. That’s compared to 112 million the same period last year.

Sales of entire digital albums, though, jumped from 99 million to 119 million. Individual song purchases went from 242 million in 2006 to 288 million this year.

CD sales have been slowly declining for the past five years, but the digital music market has not always picked up the slack. Other entertainment mediums like online movie services and video games have been grabbing mindshare away from music.