Music sales hit new low since 1994

LOOKING to beat the heat? Visit a record store -- the aisles are apparently both chilly and empty these days, at least if you use the Nielsen SoundScan album sales chart as a thermometer.

Only one CD sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S. last week -- “Now That’s What I Call Music!, Vol. 22,” which sold 207,000 copies. Even that had a tinge of disappointment to it; it marked a 48% tumble from the previous week, when “Now” debuted at No. 1 on the chart. Billboard.com reported Wednesday that the malaise was one for the record books. The site said that overall music sales last week hit the lowest total since 1994, and that last low-point came in January of that year, a month when retail is expected to bottom-out after the holiday splurges.

The top two debuts this week have somewhat spirited titles: “Sacred” from Los Lonely Boys sold 67,000 copies to finish at No. 2 on the national chart while “If You’re Going Through Hell” by country singer Rodney Atkins took the No. 3 slot with 55,000 copies sold. There were only two other debuts in the Top 30. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, the Florida quintet that has benefited from its Warped Tour stint, lands at No. 25 with the group’s first full studio album, “Don’t You Fake It,” which sold 25,000 copies. At No. 29, country singer Eric Church joins the week’s theme of religious imagery with his name and his new title, “Sinners Like Me,” which sold 24,000 copies.