Historical Text Archive © 1990 - 2025
Printer friendly version of: http://historicaltextarchive.org/sections.php?action=read&artid=615

Single Record Sales, 1950-1962

Record Sales, 1950-1962

Year	Sales (in millions of units)
1950	189
1951	199
1952	214
1953	219
1954	213
1955	277
1956	377
1957	460
1958	511
1959	603
1960	600
1961	640
1962	687

Source: Harvey Rachlin, The Encyclopedia of the Music Business, 316.

The volume of records sold climbed from 277 million in 1955 to 511 million in 1958. Moreover, the majors lost control of the market. Whereas fifty-one (78%) of the Billboard top ten records in 1955 were released by the majors, only thirty-eight (49%) came from the majors in 1958.

Market Share of Top Ten Billboard Hits

Year 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

N % N % N % N % N %

Majors 40 78 36 65.5 30 43 38 49 30 34

Indies 11 22 19 34.5 40 57 39 51 59 66

TOTAL 51 100 55 100 70 100 77 100 89 100
Source: Charlie Gillett, Sounds of the City, 472.