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Vinyl sales could top a million this year

By | Published on Monday 6 October 2014

Arctic Monkeys

It’s no secret whatsoever, I mean, not at all, everyone knows, even my mum mentioned it on the phone last week, and she’d heard it from the local butcher, who’d got the lowdown from the local baker, who’d possibly heard about it from his old mucker Master Harry Styles, but the point is, everyone knows that vinyl sales are up. Well, Bob doesn’t know. But that’s because Bob’s an idiot. I mean, he was even pleased when U2’s new album arrived on his iPhone, and he doesn’t even own an iPhone.

Anyway, the Entertainment Retailers Association last week confirmed that the vinyl revival continues and, while we should probably keep things in perspective (vinyl accounts for about 3% of physical album sales overall), the trade group reckons that sales of good old fashioned black discs of musical goodness could top a million this year. Vinyl sales were a quarter of that back in 2008.

Sales for 2014 were at 844,122 as good old quarter three reached its conclusion last week, which is already ahead of the total sales figure for 2013, 829,243. Says ERA boss Kim Bayley: “This is an extraordinary turnaround. Independent retailers were first to identify the untapped potential for vinyl and made it the focus of Record Store Day. With record labels now making more vinyl available, this trend shows no sign of abating”.

But what are these vinyl records that the kids are all buying (mainly from Urban Outfitters apparently, though Billboard’s maths says Amazon is still the biggest seller overall)? Well, here’s the UK vinyl top ten for the year so far. Look at all that fabulous new music.

1. Arctic Monkeys – AM
2. Jack White – Lazaretto
3. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
4. Royal Blood – Royal Blood
5. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
6. Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
7. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III
8. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
9. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
10. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not



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