Statistics

Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the US music market in 2005:^[21]

• Universal Music Group (USA based) — 31.71%
• Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 25.61%
• Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%
• EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%
• Independent labels — 18.13%

and in 2004, 82.64%:

US music market shares, according to Nielsen SoundScan (2005)

• Universal Music Group—29.59%
• Sony Music Entertainment—28.46% (13.26% Sony, 15.20% BMG)
• Warner Music Group—14.68%
• EMI Group—9.91%
• Independent labels—17.36%

World music market sales shares, according to IFPI (2005)

The global market was estimated at $30–40 billion in 2004. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s) in 2004 were 3 billion.
According to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:

• Universal Music Group—25.5%
• Sony Music Entertainment—21.5%
• EMI Group—13.4%
• Warner Music Group—11.3%
• Independent labels—28.3%

Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000:

• Universal Music Group — 28.8%
• Sony Music Entertainment — 21.1%
• EMI — 14.1%
• Warner Music Group — 13.4%
• Independent labels — 22.6%

Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically.

Total value by country

According to the IFPI more than 95% of the total revenue from music in 2003 was derived from the 30 major countries in the proportions shown above, organized roughly by geographic location. In the industry, it is commonly accepted that the three major music markets are the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Albums sales and market value

The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in the 1990s–2000s.

#	Country	Album Sales Share	Share of World Market Value
1	USA	37–40%	30–35%
2	Japan	9–12%	16–19%
3	UK	7–9%	6.4–9.1%
4	Germany	7–8%	5.3–6.4%
5	France	4.5–5.5%	5.4–6.3%
6	Canada	2.6–3.3%	1.9–2.8%
7	Australia	1.5–1.8%	1.5–2.0%
8	Brazil	2.0–3.8%	1.1–3.1%
9	Italy	1.7–2.0%	1.5–2.0%
10	Spain	1.7–2.3%	1.4–1.8%
11	Netherlands	1.2–1.8%	1.3–1.8%
12	Mexico	2.1–4.6%	0.8–1.8%
13	Belgium	0.7–0.8%	0.8–1.2%
14	Switzerland	0.75–0.9%	0.8–1.1%
15	Austria	0.5–0.7%	0.8–1.0%
17	Russia	2.0–2.9%	0.5–1.4%
18	Taiwan	0.9–1.6%	0.5–1.1%
19	Argentina	0.5–0.7%	0.5–1.0%
20	Denmark	0.45–0.65%	0.5–0.8%

Singles sales

Physical single sales in the world in the 1990s–2000s and digital single sales in 2005.

#	Country	Physical Sales Share	Digital Sales Share in 2005
	EU	34–50%	13.2%
1	UK	26–32%	1.7%
2	Japan	4–25%	85%
3	USA	14.5–16%	6.3%
4	Germany	9–12%	5%
5	France	4–12.5%	1.9%
6	Australia	1.8–4.6%	0.48%
7	Netherlands	1.3–1.7%	< 0.2%
8	Belgium	0.8-1.8%	< 0.2%
9	Sweden	0.6-0.96%	< 0.2%
10	Switzerland	0.5-0.92%	< 0.2%
11	Austria	0.58-0.82%	< 0.2%
12	Italy	0.3-1.0%	< 0.2%
13	Spain	0.3-0.7%	< 0.2%
14	Norway	0.3-0.47%	< 0.2%
15	Ireland	0.2-0.5%	< 0.2%
16	Canada	0.1-0.6%	< 0.2%
17	Portugal	0.01-1.0%	< 0.2%
18	Republic of Korea	0.02-0.45%	< 0.1%
19	New Zealand	0.19-0.29%	< 0.1%
20	Denmark	0.10-0.25%	< 0.1%

Recorded music retail sales

Interim physical retail sales in 2005 - all figures in millions.
Approximately 21% of the gross CD revenue numbers in 2003 can be attributed to used CD sales growing to approximately 27% in 2007 (the growth is attributed to increasing on-line sales of used product by outlets such as Amazon.com, the growth of used music media is expected to continue to grow as the cost of digital downloads continues to rise.)

COUNTRY		UNITS				VALUE		CHANGE
		Singles	CD	DVD	Total Units	$US	Local Currency	Units	Value
1	USA	14.7	300.5	11.6	326.8	4783.2	4783.2	−5.70%	−5.30%
2	Japan	28.5	93.7	8.5	113.5	2258.2	239759	−6.90%	−9.20%
3	UK	24.3	66.8	2.9	74.8	1248.5	666.7	−1.70%	−4.00%
4	Germany	8.5	58.7	4.4	71	887.7	689.7	−7.70%	−5.80%
5	France	11.5	47.3	4.5	56.9	861.1	669.1	7.50%	−2.70%
6	Italy	0.5	14.7	0.7	17	278	216	−8.40%	−12.30%
7	Canada	0.1	20.8	1.5	22.3	262.9	325	0.70%	−4.60%
8	Australia	3.6	14.5	1.5	17.2	259.6	335.9	−22.90%	−11.80%
9	India	–	10.9	–	55.3	239.6	11500	−19.20%	−2.40%
10	Spain	1	17.5	1.1	19.1	231.6	180	−13.40%	−15.70%
11	Netherlands	1.2	8.7	1.9	11.1	190.3	147.9	−31.30%	−19.80%
12	Russia	–	25.5	0.1	42.7	187.9	5234.7	−9.40%	21.20%
13	Mexico	0.1	33.4	0.8	34.6	187.9	2082.3	44.00%	21.50%
14	Brazil	0.01	17.6	2.4	24	151.7	390.3	−20.40%	−16.50%
15	Austria	0.6	4.5	0.2	5	120.5	93.6	−1.50%	−9.60%
16	Switzerland **	0.8	7.1	0.2	7.8	115.8	139.2	n/a	n/a
17	Belgium	1.4	6.7	0.5	7.7	115.4	89.7	−13.80%	−8.90%
18	Norway	0.3	4.5	0.1	4.8	103.4	655.6	−19.70%	−10.40%
19	Sweden	0.6	6.6	0.2	7.2	98.5	701.1	−29.00%	−20.30%
20	Denmark	0.1	4	0.1	4.2	73.1	423.5	3.70%	−4.20%
	Top 20	74.5	757.1	42.8	915.2	12378.7		−6.60%	−6.30%

In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Seagram reported that Universal Music Group made 40% of the worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year.