Well, despite those relatively pleasing UK sales figures released by the BPI recently, record sales continue to decline elsewhere.
In the US record sales for the most recent period are down 2.6% on the same period last year, while year-to-date figures are down 10% - which translates to some 50 million units - a deficit unlikely to be made up in what remains of the year.
Of course it is interesting that record sales continue to decline in the US where litigation against illegal file sharers has been prolific, while they have risen in the UK where similar litigation has been very limited. Perhaps suing your customers over P2P usage isn't a good strategy for boosting album sales after all.