Rock music was the hottest music genre in the USA last year.
Of the 1.1 billion music purchases made during the year, 170.7 million were Rock, according to Nielsen SoundScan.R&B was number 2 with 117 million purchases while Alternative music made up 109 million purchases.
The biggest drop in market share in 2006 was New Age music, with sales down by 22.7%. Rap was down 20.7% and R&B was down 18.4%.
Classical music sales increased by 22.5%, Soundtracks by 18.9% and Latin music by 5.2%.
The top music genres of 2006 were:
1. Rock
2. R&B
3. Alternative
4. Country
5. Metal
6. Rap
7. Christian/Gospel
8. Latin
9. Soundtrack
10. Classical
11. New Age
