Album sales up, tickets down, and talent was through the roof

The term ''flip-flop" was well used in presidential politics this year, but it could also describe what happened with the concert-ticket business and album sales in 2004. Entering the year, the concert industry was coming off its two best-selling years while album sales were plummeting, but those trends each went the other way this year as industry analysts scrambled to find the reasons.

The concert business was off by a whopping 30 percent nationally, though only 15 percent in the traditionally strong market of Boston, according to Dave Marsden, vice president of Tea Party Concerts. The explanations run from high ticket prices (promoters will try to address this next year) to a lack of blockbuster acts on the road to stiff competition from iPods, computer games, and DVDs. And, oh yes, there was that distracting Red Sox World Series run.

CD sales, however, increased for the first time in four years. It wasn't a huge rise -- 2 percent to a projected 670 million albums sold, according to Billboard senior analyst Geoff Mayfield -- but at least record labels can no longer claim that file-sharing is completely ruining their business. One theory about the rise is that the albums that were supposed to be hits lived up to expectations, drawing more people into the stores, which in turn led to more secondary purchases. Another possible factor is the lawsuits against file sharers.

The year's top-selling album was Usher's ''Confessions" (at 7.1 million copies); second was Norah Jones's ''Feels Like Home" at 3.6 million. First-week sales of both exceeded the 1 million mark, which didn't happen at all in 2003.

More good news for the often whiny music industry was the success of digital sales. In February, an average of 2 million tracks a week were being sold by legal downloading services such as iTunes, Napster, MusicNet, and MusicNow, and that figure has soared to 3.8 million per week.

Creatively, it was a formidable year. Rarely have there been so many talented breakout acts, including the Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, Kanye West, Los Lonely Boys, Madeleine Peyroux, the Streets, Gretchen Wilson, the Scissor Sisters, Coheed & Cambria, and Boston's Dresden Dolls. It was also a year of comebacks by Prince (the second most popular tour after Madonna), literary tunesmith Morrissey, Top 40 darlings Destiny's Child, and Boston's Pixies, who reunited and were bigger than ever.

Veterans likewise came to the fore. R&B legend Ray Charles passed away, leaving two new albums, ''Genius Loves Company" and the ''Ray" soundtrack, both of which soared into Billboard's top 10. Pop composer Brian Wilson scored with his long-awaited ''Smile" album, while eternal beach boy Jimmy Buffett shocked listeners by making a country duets album that went to No. 1 in its first week. He also played two sold-out shows at Fenway Park that proved Parrotheads don't need to tailgate to have fun.

Many rockers got in bed with politics this year. The Vote for Change Tour, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, John Fogerty, and others, couldn't swing the tide for John Kerry. Nor could the hip-hop Vote or Die effort.

The year's most visible hip-hop artist (apart from Snoop Dogg -- let's not even go there) was Jay-Z, whose recent mash-up album with Linkin Park went immediately to No. 1, as did his CD with R. Kelly just six weeks before that. Jay-Z, who is supposed to be retired, was also appointed president and CEO of Def Jam Records.

The most ubiquitous rock act was U2, which, when not appearing in iPod commercials, delivered its best album in years, ''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Other acts that were everywhere: Velvet Revolver (former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland with the remnants of Guns N' Roses), Bob Dylan (who performed at ballparks and at Harvard and released a book of memoirs), and Metallica, which turned up on movie screens with a squishy documentary about its group therapy, ''Some Kind of Monster."

Unfortunately, 2004 saw its share of major breakups. Jam-rock flag bearers Phish called it quits with a memorable, two-night mudfest in Coventry, Vt., where band members brought their mothers onstage and fans choked back tears. Local rockers Dispatch bid farewell with an emotional (and free) show at the Hatch Shell that drew more than 75,000 people from around the world. Other acts signing off were Creed, Orbital, and Leftover Salmon.

Although Boston, like the rest of the nation, was off in concert sales, the Tweeter Center was the No. 1 amphitheater in the country, bringing in $23 million from 32 concerts. And the facility hopes to ''reinvigorate" sales next year by having first-day sales of lawn tickets for $15, says promoter Marsden. Expected acts there include the Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Toby Keith (returning to Tweeter after playing Gillette Stadium this summer), James Taylor, and possibly Green Day (whose punk opera, ''American Idiot," was this year's most enjoyable rock album).

The FleetCenter also stood tall in 2004 with shows by Usher, Prince, Pearl Jam (two nights), Metallica, Bette Midler, and Barry Manilow. And next year's concert season should brighten with U2 (expected at the FleetCenter), Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones. Maybe there will be another flip-flop between ticket and album sales by then.

R.I.P.: Ray Charles, Rick James, Johnny Ramone, Syreeta Wright, Laura Branigan, Skeeter Davis, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Elvin Jones, Barney Kessel, Robert Quine (guitarist for Richard Hell and the Voidoids), Carl Wayne (singer with the Move), ''Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, Steve Lacy, John Kalishes, John Peel, Barry Savenor, James Williams, K.D. Bell, Doris Troy (''Just One Look"), Cornelius Bumpus, Arthur Kane (bassist for the New York Dolls), A.C. Reed, J.J. Jackson, Son Seals, Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean), Clement Seymour ''Coxsone" Dodd (founder of Jamaica's Studio One), Illinois Jacquet, and Bruce Palmer (bassist for Buffalo Springfield).