Country Album Sales Up

Reports from Nielsen SoundScan, a company that tracks music sales in the U.S. are in!

For the first half of 2012 Country album sales have increased by about 1 million units over those for the same period last year.  Country albums made a jump from 18.4 million sold to 19.4 million copies sold. This is a 5.6 rise percent rise.

Country albums that have brought in the most sales are Lionel Richie's Tuskegee,  Carrie Underwood's Blown Away and Luke Bryan's Tailgates & Tanlines.

The Top 10 bestselling albums for this period were:

1. Adele, 21 (3,668,000 units)
2. Lionel Richie, Tuskegee (912,000)
3. One Direction, Up All Night (899,000)
4. Whitney Houston, Greatest Hits (818,000)
5. Multi-artist compilation, Now 41 (714,000)
6. Carrie Underwood, Blown Away (602,000)
7. Luke Bryan, Tailgates & Tanlines (575,000)
8. Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday, Roman Reloaded (557,000)
9. Drake, Take Care (549,000)
10. Adele, 19 (539,000)