Vinyl
UK Music Sales Up 8.7% as Vinyl Outpaces Streaming Growth
LONDON – Vinyl sales grew twice as fast as streaming in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive an 8.7% rise in overall music spending, according to year-end figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). Vinyl album sales rose by 23% to £136 million ($184 million) in 2021, compared to 10.9% growth in subscription streaming revenue over the same period. Overall music spending rose to £1.68 billion ($2.3 billion), the organization says in its preliminary annual figures published on Wednesday (Jan. 5). While vinyl sales outpaced streaming, digital music services like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Apple Music account for almost 80% of recorded music spending in the U.K., with subscription revenues climbing to a record high of £1.3 billion ($1.8 billion), up 10.9% f...
Vinyl Sales Hit 30-Year High, Kid Cudi Sets Rap Sales Record
If you’ve been using your extra time at home lately as an excuse to build your physical music library, you’re certainly not alone: Americans bought 2.11 million vinyl records in the week ending on December 23rd, according to Billboard. This marks vinyl’s biggest week in sales since SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991, as well as the first time vinyl sales have exceeded two million units in decades. 41,500 of those sales went to Kid Cudi, whose Man on the Moon III: The Chosen just broke the record for the biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history. This is the second consecutive year of LP supremacy, after 2020 was the best year in vinyl’s history, outselling CDs for the first time in 34 years. The previous weekly vinyl sales record was ...
Weekly U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Break Modern-Era Record, Fueled by Holiday Shopping
Weekly U.S. vinyl album sales hit a modern-era record high, as 2.11 million vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 23 according to MRC Data. It’s the single-largest sales week for vinyl albums since MRC Data began tracking music sales in 1991. It’s the first time that weekly vinyl album sales have exceeded 2 million in the MRC Data era. The previous single-week high, since 1991, came a year ago, when 1.84 million vinyl LPs were sold in the week ending Dec. 24, 2020. Vinyl LP sales surged in the week ending Dec. 23 – by 45% compared to the previous week (1.46 million) – fueled by holiday shopping leading up to Christmas Day on Dec. 25. The top-selling vinyl album in the week ending Dec. 23 was Adele’s 30, with 59,000 copies sold. It ranks at No. 1 on Billboard’s weekly Vinyl Albums ...
Bo Burnham & Kid Cudi Vinyl Releases Spur Big Gains on Top Album Sales Chart
The vinyl releases of Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) and Kid Cudi’s Man On the Moon III: The Chosen pushes both albums back onto Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Jan. 1, 2022) — and straight into the top five. On the Top Album Sales chart, Inside (The Songs) re-enters at No. 3 (a new high, and its first week in the top 10) with 44,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 23 (up 15,220%; and easily the album’s best sales week). The album was released on vinyl and CD for the first time on Dec. 17. Of its 44,000 sold for the week, vinyl sales comprised 36,000; CD sales comprised 8,000 and digital download sales comprised a negligible sum. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Inside (The Songs) was initially released on June 10...
Adele’s ‘30’ Becomes 2021’s Best-Selling Vinyl Album, Holds at No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart
Adele’s 30 spends a fourth consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Dec. 25) – and also becomes 2021’s top-selling album on vinyl. Across all of its available formats, both physical and digital, 30 sold 146,000 copies in the United States in the week ending Dec. 16 (down 2%) according to MRC Data. Its total sales climb to 1.21 million. It is the only album released in 2021 to sell a million copies. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news 30 also rules the Vinyl Albums chart for a fourth week, selling 41,000 copies (up 16%). Its total sales on vinyl now climb to 234,000 – becoming 2021’s top-selling album on wax. It surpasses the previous top-seller, Taylor Swift’s Evermore, which has sold 232,000 on vinyl throug...
From Vinyl Variants to NFTs, Inside 2021’s Collecting Craze
The spike in vinyl has been at a steady incline for over a decade, with sales growing year over year since the mid-2000s. But, during a pandemic in which concerts were canceled and music fans were kept inside, interest in vinyl exploded, dating back to July 2020 and continued with vinyl unit sales in the United States growing 81% as of October 2021, according to MRC Data (compared with 46.2% by the end of 2020). That growth now suggests an estimated year-end 2021 revenue of $1 billion. Interestingly, around the same time that a time-honored physical format started to soar, so too did the very intangible, very online non-fungible tokens in the music space. (An NFT is a one-of-a-kind digital token that exists on a blockchain, most often Ethereum, which is the second most popular cryptocurren...
A Vinyl Reissue of SOPHIE’s Debut EP, “Nothing More To Say” Is Due In 2022
There is perhaps no music producer who was more influential to the experimental electronica movement of the mid-2010s than SOPHIE. The late trans icon has been sorely missed since her tragic death in January, and now, a vinyl repress of her debut EP will help keep her memory alive. Due in early 2022, the reissue of Nothing More To Say will include the three tracks that introduced her signature, high-energy sound to the world: titular track “Nothing More To Say” (in both its “Vox” and “Dub” versions) and “EEEHHH.” Cover art for SOPHIE’s “Nothing More To Say” EP. The record label Huntleys + Palmers has also announced that proceeds from the sale will benefit the Scottish Trans Alliance. According to Resident Advisor, ...
U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Surge After Walmart Sale & Debut of Taylor Swift’s ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’
Weekly U.S. vinyl album sales surged past 1 million copies for the first time in four months, thanks in large part to sale pricing and promotion at Walmart stores for a selection of titles, as well as the Nov. 12 release of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version). In the week ending Nov. 18, there were 1.06 million vinyl albums sold in the U.S. according to MRC Data – an increase of 52% compared the previous week (697,000). It’s the ninth time vinyl album sales have exceeded 1 million copies in a single week since MRC Data began electronically tracking sales in 1991, and all of the million-selling weeks have happened since 2019. It last occurred in the week ending July 22, following Record Store Day 2021’s second drop on July 17. During the tracking week ending Nov. 18, Walmart stores promot...
Cercle Is Releasing Its First-Ever Vinyl With Songs From Their Shows and Stories
For the very first time, Cercle is releasing compilations on vinyl. The compilations will consist of 15 tracks across two compilations, which are dubbed COTON and GRAPHITE and will feature music from Ash, Monolink, Teho and more. Each song on the album is linked to a Cercle show or story, and they’ll also have additional information written by the Cercle team or recording artists, among “many other surprises.” “It means the world to have been able to create these shows with such talented human beings,” reads a recent LinkedIn post. “And thanks to all of your for the continued support and love throughout all the messages, comments and so on… It makes us always want to keep pushing boundaries.” Recommended Articles You can pre-...
Win The Story of Philadelphia International Records Vinyl Anthology and Sony Stereo System
The entire history of Philadelphia International Records can’t be captured in a box. That’s why this whole month, Consequence will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic label with a number of soul features. But we’re kicking things off with, well, a box. That’s the Vinyl Me, Please The Story of Philadelphia International Records vinyl anthology box set, to be precise. This exclusive collection features eight classic Philly soul albums AAA-mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed onto uniquely colored vinyl. Included in the box are The O’Jays’ Back Stabbers, Billy Paul’s 360 Degrees of Billy Paul, MFSB’s Love Is the Message, The Three Degrees’ 1973 self-titled record, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ Wake Up Everybody, Dexter Wansel’s Life on Mars...
Long Live Vinyl
If 2020 brought anything good, it’s another high point in the unimaginable meteoric rise in record sales. Sales grew 46% from 2019, with 27.5 million LPs sold in the United States last year, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time since the 1980s — when vinyl started losing to its polycarbonate plastic counterpart. It’s clear now that the old medium for listening to music isn’t just for the nostalgic or hipster purists that are obsessed with sound quality. It’s becoming a mainstream way to collect and consume music. But why? When it comes to technology, we’re all about moving forward rapidly, staying on the cutting edge. So, why, then, when the biggest music catalog on Earth sits just a couple of touches away on our smart devices, are we returning to a century-old medium? For many, it may jus...
Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever Has Second-Largest One-Week Vinyl Sales in 30 Years
Billie Eilish has earned her second No. 1 album with Happier Than Ever, which would have topped the Billboard 200 based on vinyl sales alone. The LP moved 238,000 equivalent album units for the week ending August 5th, according to sales tracking company MRC Data. Of that total, 153,000 units were in pure album sales. Physical sales comprised 129,000, with 73,000 vinyl copies purchased. According to Billboard, Happier‘s vinyl sales mark the second-largest sales week in at least thirty years. (MRC Data, previously known as SoundScan, didn’t start tracking vinyl sales until 1991). Currently holding the crown is Taylor Swift, who sold 102,000 vinyl copies of evermore when it finally arrived in the physical format earlier this year. Eilish’s vinyl sales are aided by three months ...
