US album sales slipped by 4% in 2012, after registering a modest year-on-year climb in 2011.

According to new Nielsen Soundscan figures, overall LP sales in the territory fell from 331m units in 2011 to 316m units in 2012, as digital growth failed to make up the shortfall caused by physical’s decline.

CD sales dipped by 13%, a faster fall than that seen in 2011 (6%), as digital album sales grew 14%. Digital downloads accounted for 37% of total album sales.

Digital sales of individual tracks hit a record 1.34bn tracks, but the growth rate slowed from 8.5% in 2011 to 5%.

Vinyl unit nsales grew for the fifth year in a row, up 18% – 4.55m in total, just under 1.5% of the market.

However, the Nielsen figures did not take into account income from streaming or internet radio payments.

According to US record body the RIAA last week, subscription, mobile and digital performance royalties accounted for $800m in sales in 2011 – around 12& of the total $7bn US record market. It said that figure is “likely to continue rising as those services continued growing in users and listener hours in 2012″.

“We’re all eager to reach a moment in time when that data [on newer revenue streams] is more readily available throughout the year,” said Jim Donio, president of NARM, the music business association.

Donio said the 2012 growth in US digital downloads was “particularly significant” after the first full year of streaming platforms like Spotify being available. [MusicWeek]