Back in the annual vinyl charts: Abbey Road

At no. 4: “Abbey Road” returns!

Nielsen Soundscan‘s annual US record sales report is out again, and The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album is back in the vinyl album charts. And it now has company: “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band” is in the top 10 at no. 7!

Before the vinyl resurrection hit us, Abbey Road was a steady seller, topping the annual sales list for vinyl albums in 2009 (34,800 copies), 2010 (35,000 copies) and 2011 (41, 000 copies. In 2008, Abbey Road was the second-highest selling vinyl album, with 16,500 copies sold.

A Deluxe vinyl box, featuring the album and a t-shirt probably boosted the 2009 sales of Abbey Road.

Then along came 2012, and the album climbed down to second spot again, with 30,000 copies sold, despite the release of the remastered stereo Beatles albums that year. In 2013, the album completely vanished from the top 10. At no.10 in 2013 was Justin Timberlake’s “20/20” with sales of 21 000, so “Abbey Road” sold below that figure. In Nielsen’s half year report from the summer of 2013, Abbey Road had sold 12,400, so it was probably just bubbling under the top 10 at the end of the year.

But now it’s back on the list again, having sold 38,200 in the past year, which places it at no. 4 in the charts. And this without it being part of the big Beatles vinyl releases of 2014, the remastered mono albums. Good to see you back, Abbey! Vinyl made a big comeback last year, and grew by 52 percent in 2014 to 9.2 million copies sold, up from 6.1 million in 2013.

Despite vinyl’s growth in popularity, it still counted for just 3.6 % of overall US album sales in 2014.

2009 Deluxe Vinyl Box, back.

In the UK, vinyl sales topped 1.3 million for the first time since 1995.
Figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the trade association for the UK record industry, show that while vinyl is still a niche format, accounting for just 2 % of the total UK music market, sales continue to grow, hitting the million mark for the first time since Britpop’s height in 1996 back in November, and were boosted even further by the Christmas market. Despite the release of the mono vinyl boxed set, none of the Beatles’ albums made an impact on the Top 10 UK vinyl album charts, which were topped by the new Pink Floyd release, “The Endless River”.