How are we listening to music today?
Now hear this! The way we listen to music is changing.
According to the latest Nielsen Music U.S. Report, nearly 164 billion songs were streamed on demand in 2014 (including audio and video data from AOL, Beats, Cricket, Google Play, Medianet, Rdio, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify, Xbox Music, and Youtube/Vevo) . . . that's up nearly 55 percent over 2013.
On the other hand, album sales of all kinds fell 11 percent . . . from 289 million in 2013, to 257 million last year.
Rock was the most popular music last year, accounting for 29 percent of total consumption (as Nielsen puts it).
R&B/Hip-Hop was second at 17.2 percent.
Third was Pop, at 14.9 percent.
Country was fourth, at 11.2.
And the overall bestselling album of 2014 was "1989" by Taylor Swift, with over 3.6 million in sales . . . followed closely behind by the "Frozen" soundtrack at 3.5 million.