Well, the final numbers have been crunched and the end result is something we pretty much suspected all along: 2009 was a very big 年 for Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and the late, great King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

On Wednesday (January 6), Nielsen SoundScan released their sales figures for 2009, and while some of the data is downright depressing — total album sales (including digital) dropped 更多 than 12 percent — we prefer to focus on the positive: Swift, Gaga and Jackson (not to mention Susan Boyle, the Black Eyed Peas and the Kings of Leon) moved a whole lot of units over the past 12 months.

Swift’s Fearless was the year’s top-selling album, moving 更多 than 3.2 million copies, holding off a late-year charge from Boyle, whose I Dreamed a Dream sold some 3.1 million copies to land at #2 (though Boyle had the best-selling album released in 2009, since Fearless actually came out in November 2008). Michael Jackson’s Number Ones was #3, selling 更多 than 2.3 million copies, and Lady Gaga’s The Fame (2.23 million) and Andrea Bocelli’s My 圣诞节 (2.2 million) round out the 最佳, 返回页首 five.

Jackson was 2009’s top-selling artist 由 a mile. He sold 更多 than 8.2 million albums, doubling his nearest competitor, Swift, who sold 4.6 million. Some group called the Beatles landed at #3, selling 更多 than 3.2 million albums, followed 由 Boyle (3.1 million) and Gaga (2.8 million).

Gaga was named the top-selling digital artist of the 年 — a category based on total digital track sales — as 粉丝 downloaded 更多 than 15 million of her songs. The Black Eyed Peas were next, selling nearly 13 million digital tracks. Jackson stood at #3 (12.35 million), 迅速, 斯威夫特 came in at #4 (12.3 million) with Beyoncé at #5.

The Peas held the 最佳, 返回页首 two spots on the top-selling digital songs 列表 with “Boom Boom Pow” (4.7 million downloads) and “I Gotta Feeling” (4.4 million), followed 由 Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (4.3 million), Flo Rida’s “Right Round” (4.1 million) and Gaga’s “Just Dance” (3.2 million).

The Nielsen SoundScan numbers were based on the 52-week period of January 5, 2009 — January 3, 2010.