In 2008, for the first time, more fans paid to download the year's #1 song than bought the year's #1 album (as either a CD or a download). In fact, the year's top five songs each rang up more paid downloads than the year's #1 album, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, achieved in total sales.
That was the big story in music sales in 2008-the rise of individual song downloads and the continued decline of the album market. Until 2008, no song had ever topped the 3 million mark in paid downloads in a calendar year. In 2008, two songs hit the mark-Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major. Nineteen songs topped the 2 million mark in paid downloads, a huge jump from just four in 2007. A total of 71 songs topped the 1 million mark, nearly double the 2007 tally of 36.
Tha Carter III sold 2,874,000 copies during 2008. This represents the first time since Nielsen/SoundScan took over tracking of album sales for Billboard in 1991 that no albums topped the 3 million
