The Associated Press put out a great piece today on a Nielsen SoundScan report showing that vinyl record sales have grown steadily over the past six years. According to the article, David Bakula, a senior vice president at Nielsen SoundScan, said 2011 sales of new LPs, or long-playing records, are almost 3.5 million year-to-date compared to 2.8 million in 2010. “It’s not like we’re just breaking last year’s record, we’re killing it,” Bakula said.
An interesting figure from the article shows that CDs, or compact discs, hit their highest selling point in 2001 at 712 million. Since then, sales have steadily declined, but still account for almost 73 percent of $326.2 million in 2010 album sales, according to SoundScan. And, digital downloads are growing, accounting for about a quarter of 2010 sales.
What I find even more telling is SoundScan’s data showing that “Abbey Road” by the Beatles, first released more than 50 years ago, as the top selling album of 2011 followed by indie band Fleet Foxes. More than 35,000 new vinyl copies of “Abbey Road” have been sold year-to-date. According to the AP article, the top 25 list of new albums sold this year includes an eclectic mix of old and new, mainstream and indies. Adele, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Radiohead, Guns N’ Roses and Bright Eyes are all on the list.
Related articles
- Vinyl Records Are Cool Again (chicagotalks.org)
- Halfway to Platinum: Furnace MFG Produces 500,000th Vinyl Record (prweb.com)
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