Harry Styles, Billie Eilish & The Beatles Help Vinyl Album Sales Hit Record Week in U.S.
In the week ending Dec. 19, Nielsen Music reports 973,000 vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. -- marking the single biggest week for vinyl album sales since the company began electronically tracking…
Vinyl album sales hit yet another record week in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.
In the week ending Dec. 19, the data tracking firm reports 973,000 vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. — marking the single biggest week for vinyl album sales since the company began electronically tracking music sales in 1991.
The previous single-week high was registered a year ago, when 905,000 vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 27, 2018.
Vinyl album sales were so hot in the week ending Dec. 19, they comprised 25% of all albums sold that week (3.92 million across all formats: CD, LP, digital, cassette, etc.), and 31% of all physical albums sold (3.16 million on CD, LP, cassette, etc.).
The top-selling vinyl album in the week ending Dec. 19 was Harry Styles‘ new Fine Line, which sold 28,000 copies — the fourth-largest sales week for a vinyl album in Nielsen Music history.
The industry may not have to wait long to beat the new single-week vinyl sales record, as the upcoming tracking week ends on Thursday (Dec. 26) — meaning it will have five full days of last-minute Christmas shopping factored into its seven-day tracking period.
Last year, for example, in the weeks ending Dec. 20 and Dec. 27, 2018, there were 880,000 and 905,000 vinyl albums sold, respectively.
The top 10 selling vinyl albums in the latest tracking week (ending Dec. 19) were: Styles’ Fine Line, Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (12,000), The Beatles’ Abbey Road (11,000), the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack (10,000), Queen’s Greatest Hits (9,000), Michael Jackson’s Thriller (8,000), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (7,000), Garth Brooks’ Legacy box set (7,000), Taylor Swift’s Lover (7,000) and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (7,000). (All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.)
Merry Christmas Hooligans.
Sincerely, The Brunz —— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) December 24, 2019
Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow….
Merry Christmas. #hockeyhair pic.twitter.com/UhEhAhQwSF— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) December 24, 2019
Merry Christmas from the mall, y’all! I managed to get out alive! Presents are wrapped and under the tree, and I’m off to eat, drink, and be as merry as possible! Wishing you and your families and friends lots of love! –??– pic.twitter.com/vFhX4un1Mk
— ——– —————- (@carybrothers) December 25, 2019
Happy Christmas Eve everybody. Just landed in LA and headed to visit my estranged wife at her company’s office party.
— The War on Christmark (@markhoppus) December 25, 2019