For the first time in 2007, an album topped 100,000 sales per week. Pretty Ricky's Late Night Special (Atlantic) debuted at #1 with sales of 132,000 (3% digital). The Shins' Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) debuted at #2 with sales of 119,000. What is most amazing about The Shins' week, other than the fact that an indie rock (legitimately indie rock, because it's on an indie label) sold that many albums, was the digital share. An incredible 30% of The Shins' sales were digital. In the past, a digital share that high would come from a lack of distribution to national accounts. In this case, Wincing The Night Away was available virtually everywhere. Still, 30% of consumers chose to buy an album download. Only in indie rock.

Two other titles debuted in the Top 10. Various: 2007 Grammy Nominees (Columbia) debuted at #4 with 77,000 and John Mellencamp's Freedom's Road (Univeral Music Group) debuted at #5 with 56,000. Saliva's Blood Stained Love Story (Island) debuted at #19 with 30,000.

Overall, album sales were up 5% over last week but were down 14% year over year. The previous week was down 15% year over year. The week before that was down 14% year over year. The first week of the year was down 17% year over year. See a trend here?