For the first time since the mid-1990s, vinyl sales in the United Kingdom look set to cross the one million mark in a calendar year.
According to new figures released by the Official Charts Company (OCC) in conjunction with labels trade body BPI, U.K. vinyl sales for the first nine months of 2014 are close to 800,000, surpassing the 780,674 that were sold the previous year, and with the all-important holiday season still to come. The tally comes under sales numbers reported two weeks ago by the Entertainment Retailers Association, which put the number at 844,243.
UK Vinyl Sales Already Exceed 2013 Totals, Thanks to Arctic Monkeys, Led Zeppelin
The last time that the U.K. vinyl market crossed the one million sales threshold was in 1996 when Fugees‘ The Score was the year’s best-selling vinyl album. Within just two years that annual sales tally had fallen to just over 640,000 and by 2007, the format’s popularity had tumbled to just over 200,000 units sold. The resurgence began the following year with vinyl sales since then growing steadily year-on-year, culminating in 2014’s record-breaking year-to-date tally.
The on-going revival of vinyl — while still very much a niche product — can be attributed to a combination of new releases and reissues from classic artists. The year’s biggest-selling vinyl album so far is Arctic Monkeys‘ AM, which was also the top-seller in 2013. Jack White‘s Lazaretto and Royal Blood‘s eponymous debut are also among 2014’s most popular releases. Catalogue reissues from Led Zeppelin, Oasis, The Stones Roses, Pink Floyd and Arctic Monkeys’ classic debut, Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not, make up the rest of the top ten best-selling vinyl records so far this year.
Urban Outfitters Doesn’t Sell the Most Vinyl
Over 100 titles have sold more than 1,000 copies so far this year, more than double the number of titles in 2013, says the OCC. Surprisingly, the busiest month of the year for British vinyl fans was not April, when Record Store Day takes place, but September when over 110,000 vinyl LP were sold.
“Vinyl may once have been considered a by-product of a bygone era but it is now well and truly a flourishing format making a come-back in a digital age,” commented BPI’s Lynne McDowell in a statement. “In an increasingly-digitised world, it appears that music fans still crave a tangible product that gives them original artwork, high audio quality, and purity of sound.”