<P> Before the existence of recording medium and its player, the music industry earned profit through selling musical compositions on sheet music . The very first sales chart published by Billboard magazine in the United States was the Sheet Music Best Sellers chart . Following the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877, the music industry began hiring singers to record songs made by composers . Due to the length limit of recording media, singles were the only available commercial releases . In 1900, the US record sales is estimated at about 3 million copies . The music industry continued its growth, and by 1921 the value of record sales in the US reached $106 million with 140 million records being sold . </P> <P> Album sales were first reported by Billboard magazine on March 24, 1945 . However, the album definition at the time was barely boxes containing a set of several singles, such as Glenn Miller by Glenn Miller, as well as Selections from Going My Way and Merry Christmas by Bing Crosby . Technological developments in the early twentieth century led to the development of the vinyl LP record as an important medium for recorded music . In 1948, Columbia Records began to bring out 33 ​ ⁄ rpm twelve - inch extended - play LPs that could play for as long as 52 minutes, or 26 minutes per side . Musical film soundtracks, jazz works, and thematic albums by singers such as Frank Sinatra quickly utilized the new longer format . Billboard launched its first regularly published weekly albums chart, Best Selling Popular Albums, on March 24, 1956 . </P> <P> During the 1950s and into the 1960s, 45 rpm seven - inch single sales were considered the primary market for the recording industry, while albums were a secondary market . The careers of notable rock and roll performers such as Elvis Presley were driven primarily by single sales . Album sales reached its peak in English - language popular music from the mid 1960s to the mid 2000s (known as "album era") in which the album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption . In 1986, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms became the first album in history to sell over one million copies in CD format . </P> <P> Aside of paid advertising in print or broadcast media, radio airplay is one of the most important tools to sell records . A research commissioned by one of major label groups stated that "four out of five music purchases can be traced to radio airplay . </P>

When did record sales first exceed sales of sheet music in the united states