Album sales down in 2005

Album sales were down about 7 percent as 2005 drew to a close, but the budding market for music downloads – which more than doubled over last year – helped narrow the gap.

Yearly sales through the week ending Dec. 25 stood at 602.2 million, compared with 650.8 million for the same period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But downloaded tracks from online retailers soared to 332.7 million this year, compared with 134.2 million in 2004.