I.B. BAD ON THE YEAR IN MUSIC: INDIES & ROOKIES

THE INDIE UPSWING: January was a historic month for the little guys, as XL Recordings/Beggars Banquet art-rockers Vampire Weekend debuted at #1 with 121k, followed two weeks later by a #4 bow from veteran Merge band Spoon. The biggest noise was made in August by Merge’s Arcade Fire, whose chart-topping, 156k debut set a new commercial standard for indie rock. The greatest growth was shown by Daniel Glass’ latest discovery (following the 2009 breakthrough of Phoenix), Mumford & Sons, whose week-to-week increases have just propelled the upstart folk-rockers past 500k. Beggars and Merge both moved the needle in new-release marketshare, scoring .9% and .6%, respectively, making them the #2 and #3 indies behind E1 Entertainment, with 1.5%.

THE CLASS OF 2010: Youth was served this year, as a passel of previously unknown acts made strong first impressions, a gratifying phenomenon during these challenging times. This bumper crop of probable career artists included Atlantic’s Bruno Mars, Universal Republic’s Florence + the Machine, Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown’s Nicki Minaj and Glassnote’s Mumford & Sons. Leading the pack was 16-year-old Canadian song-and-dance man Justin Bieber, whose My World 2.0 (Island/IDJ) has sold 2.14m, while his 2009 debut album My World has added 975k on the year. Two other rookies are in seven figures: Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown MC Drake, who’s at 1.2m, and RCA/RMG’s Ke$ha, with 1.07m. But it should also be noted that few outside of the mainstream country audience were aware of the existence of Capitol/EMI’s Lady Antebellum before the co-ed trio’s sophomore album Need You Now crossed over, scoring the year’s #2-selling album.