Weekly U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Break Modern-Era Record
More than 2.2 million vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 22 — the largest week for the format since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991.
U.S. vinyl album sales hit a modern-era high in the week ending Dec. 22, as 2.232 million copies were sold, according to Luminate. That marks the single-largest sales week for vinyl albums since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. It’s also only the second time in the modern era (1991-onward) that weekly vinyl album sales have exceeded 2 million. It last happened a year ago, when vinyl had its previous modern-era-high by selling 2.115 million in the week ending Dec. 23, 2021.
Vinyl album sales grew by 46.7% in the week ending Dec. 22 (compared with the previous week), powered by holiday gift shopping. The top-selling vinyl album of the week was Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which sold 68,000 copies – the third-largest sales week of the year for an album on vinyl. (Midnights’ vinyl sales profit from its availability across five vinyl variants – all colored vinyl editions, including one exclusive to Target.)
Vinyl album sales made up 57% of overall album sales in the United States in the week ending Dec. 22 (2.232 million of 3.897 million) and 63% of all physical album sales (2.232 million of 3.526 million). (Overall album sales combine both physical and digital download album purchases. Physical album sales include vinyl albums, CDs and cassettes, and other physical formats.)
Year-to-date vinyl album sales stand at 41.891 million – up 3.6% compared with the same point in 2021.
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