Some 24.3m fewer music, movie and games titles were sold in 2009 compared to 2008, with UK spend on home entertainment falling almost £400m.
Music has a strong year
However, music sales held up well in this general decline; they fell a mere 0.8% - their smallest fall in five years - compared to drops of 10.6% for video (including DVD and Blu-ray) and 11% for games.
Album sales were boosted in part by falling prices, with the average cost of a CD falling below £8 - albeit just a penny less, at £7.99 - for the first time.
Some strong releases also buoyed music sales; you can see the Top 10 title list below.
RIP record stores?
The ERA - which accounts for 90%+ of all UK home entertainment sales, and includes Amazon, HMV and independent stores among its members - expected music sales to have suffered worse in a tough trading year, especially as the number of music retailers has shrunk.
As well as the loss to the High Street of big names such as Zavvi and Woolworths, there has been a massive decline in independent record stores, with a mere 269 surviving across the UK - that's a third of 2004's total.
The 2009 UK Top Ten
So, what were the year's bestselling home entertainment titles? Well, despite that double-digit decline for games sales, COD came in top...
1) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Game) - 2.9 million units sold
2) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Movie) - 2.2m
3) FIFA 10 (Game) - 2.2m
4) Quantum of Solace (Movie) - 2m
5) Twilight (Movie) - 1.8m
6) Susan Boyle - I Dreamed A Dream (Album) - 1.7m
7) Wii Sports Resort (Game) - 1.5m
8) Lady GaGa - The Fame (Album) - 1.5m
9) Slumdog Millionaire (movie) - 1.5m
10) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (movie) - 1.4m
Classics one and all, i'm sure you'll agree!
Shock video stats
There are loads more fascinating facts and stats from the ERA report - including a shock rise in VHS sales - which we will cover in a following blog.
UPDATE - Full blog now live here.