Nielsen Music’s mid-year report for album sales has revealed that vinyl is continuing to kill it, despite overall album sales (in the US) dropping in the first half of 2017.
A report for mid-2017 album sales has revealed that vinyl is continuing to kill it, despite overall album sales dropping.
As Billboard reports, overall album sales are down 18 percent in 2017 compared to the mid-year point in 2016. CD album sales also dropped 19 percent (40.34 million versus 50 million) and digital album sales fell 20 percent (35.09 million versus 43.80 million).
However, vinyl sales continue to rise, and were up 2% in the first half of 2017 from 6.22 million 6.36 million.
As the Vinyl Factory point out, this figures are most definitely supplemented by the 50th anniversary re-release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band which sold 39,000 copies alone.
This is perhaps indicative of the overall influence that nostalgia has on this vinyl resurgence – something that is evident in the top selling records of 2017 so far:
1. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (39,000)
2. Soundtrack, La La Land (33,000)
3. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (30,000)
4. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Legend (30,000)
5. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (27,000)
6. Ed Sheeran ÷ (Divide) (27,000)
7. The Beatles, Abbey Road (26,000)
8. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain (24,000)
9. Tennis, Yours Conditionally (24,000)
10. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (23,000)
And in last year’s vinyl sales:
That being said, other factors indicate that the vinyl renaissance isn’t being driven by nostalgic baby boomers alone. Recently we’ve seen a slew of reissues aimed at younger generations, including David Lynch’s Blue Velvet soundtrack and the score from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Australia’s biggest vinyl plant Zenith Records is constantly under the pump too, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, we’re currently running our Needle In The Hay vinyl comp with them. Get on it.
