Features
Vinyl Comes Round Again
UK vinyl album sales are expected to hit 1 million by the end of the year, the first time so many have been sold since 1996.
The format hit its all-time low in 2007 with only 205,000 copies. New figures compiled by the Official Charts Company and released by the British Phonographic Industry show that so far September has been the busiest month of 2014, with 112,000 vinyl albums sold. By the end of that month, UK vinyl album sales for the year had topped 800,000.
Commentators have variously attributed vinyl coming round again to its “warmth of sound,” the quality of the artwork and info on the sleeve, or the likelihood of it at least retaining its value. AM by Arctic Monkeys, last year’s most successful vinyl album, looks like it could again be the top seller, this time ahead of Jack White‘s Lazaretto.
The artists with the best sales give little clue as to which age group is buying “records.” Other best-sellers include The Stone Roses, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin, which has three albums in the vinyl Top Ten.
Only one of the Top Ten vinyl albums for this year was actually released for the first time in 2014 – the self-titled debut album by Royal Blood.
“Vinyl may once have been considered a byproduct of a bygone era but it is now well and truly a flourishing format making a comeback in a digital age,” says BPI spokeswoman Lynne McDowell.