SoundScan, Inc., the company that’s been keeping track of sales for the record industry and several major publications, including Billboard, since 1991, announced today that Y2K was the biggest year for sales ever. The previous record was set in 1999, when 784.8 million units were sold. With 785.1 units sold over the last 12 months, 2000 ekes past to set the new mark. …And over 13 million albums were sold online.

The biggest selling album of the biggest year in history was *NSync’s No Strings Attached which sold a mind-blowing 9.9 million copies. The album also set a record for first-week-of-release sales, when over 2.4 million units sailed from the stores. Furthermore, a staggering 6 albums broke the million-selling milestone in their first week. Previous to 2000, a mere 2 albums had pulled that off.

The remainder of SoundScan’s top-10 for sales looks like this:
2. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP {7.92M}
3. Britney Spears: Oops! … I Did It Again {7.89M}
4. Creed: Human Clay {6.6M}
5. Santana: Supernatural {5.9M}
6. The Beatles: 1 {5.068M}
7. Nelly: Country Grammar {5.067M}
8. Backstreet Boys: Black & Blue {4.3M}
9. Dr. Dre: Dr. Dre 2001 {4M}
10. Destiny’s Child: Writing’s On The Wall {3.8M}

A total of 202 albums sold 500,000 or more copies last year, of which 88 sold at least a million. Of all the year’s best-selling albums, The Beatles’ had the biggest month-peak, moving over 5 million copies in the month of December. It is currently in its 5th week at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, selling a little under 500,000 more, which is pretty astonishing for a group that hasn’t played a note together in over 30 years.

As far as the labels go, the leader was Universal, whose market share was a full 28 percent. Next in line was BMG with 19.4%, Sony with 15.4%, Warner with 13.5%, and EMI with 8.7%.

Touring numbers were also record-setting in 2000, as $1.7 billion in ticket sales were tallied. It seems Tina Turner led the list, pulling in $80.2 million, followed by *NSync with $76.4 million.

SoundScan’s report also noted the best-selling albums of the past ten years. The list is led off by Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill {13.7M}, followed by Shania Twain’s Come On Over {13.6M}, Metallica’s Metallica {12.4M}, Backstreet Boys’ Millennium {11.6M}, and The Bodyguard soundtrack (11.6M}.

So what’s the industry griping about, huh? Sounds to me like things are looking pretty prosperous. How can anyone possibly use the argument that sales are being hurt? It’s obvious they aren’t.