Nielsen SoundScan reports show that Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus" was the third best selling album of the year in the U.S. as of the beginning of December. The release was CD only until nearly a year after its release, when Rhapsody grabbed exclusive digital rights where its sold only 3,000 digital copies so far.
AC/DC has still not gone digital with its "Black Ice" which was released exclusively via Wal-Mart. But it is the fourth best selling album of the year with 1.6 million copies sold.
While digital sales unequivocally contributed to the success of many of the records that top the 2008 charts, these two release prove that in a shifting marketplace there is no single path to sales success.
