Vinyl sales doubled in the UK
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| Oldest in the Top 10: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Illustration: Outtake photo by Michael Cooper. |
The British Phonographic Industry just released the figures for the 2016 music sales, and the sale of vinyl LPs have now reached the 1991 level. Here are the top sellers:
1) David Bowie: “Blackstar” (2016)
2) Amy Winehouse: “Back To Black” (2006)
3) Various Artists: “Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix 1 (soundtrack, 2014)
4) Radiohead: “A Moon Shaped Pool” (2016)
5) Fleetwood Mac: “Rumours” (1977)
6) The Stone Roses: “The Stone Roses” (1989)
7) Bob Marley: “Legend” (compilation, 1984)
8) The Beatles: “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967)
9) Prince: “Purple Rain” (1984)
10) Nirvana: “Nevermind” (1991)
The Official Charts Company reports that the sale of vinyl albums in Great Britain have increased by 53 per cent since the previous year, and in 2016 this was 3,2 million copies. It’s the highest figure in Great Britain in 25 years, but vinyl still counts for just 2,6 per cent of the total music sales. Bowie’s “Blackstar” sold more than twice as much as last year’s vinyl chart topper, Adele’s “25”. Outside of the Top 10, “Abbey Road” was The Beatles most popular vinyl album seller, at 26.
Funny, I remember 1991 as absolutely no vinyl available anymore 🙂 It took me years to find an LP of 'Off The Ground'! (OK OK, that's 1992 …)
1991 was McCartney's "Unplugged",Off the ground" was 1993, as was "Paul is live". Had no problems getting all these on vinyl!
This is quite topical for me because just before Christmas I decided to buy a complete set of the re-released vinyl albums (including a copy of Sgt Pepper). I decided to do this partly as a collector, but also because my existing set of Beatles vinyl albums is a real mixture, including some of the first albums I ever bought in the late 70s. I would really have loved to have bought the mono box set but there was no way I could justify that amount of money.
This vinyl revival is one of the biggest head scratchers ever! I am not an audiophile, but I have spent a small fortune on audio equipment over 3 decades including very expensive turntables. I hung on to vinyl for as long as possible and didn't buy my first cd player until 1993, but by then the companies were doing their best to end it: very poor quality pressings including recycled vinyl (I had a copy of Rubber Soul with paper stuck in the grooves); high prices while cd prices were dropping, and then the end of new releases. I was too committed to vinyl ever to get rid of mine, but I would never have predicted this trend. I saw a teenage girl with a copy of Are You Experienced (Hendrix) over Christmas and I just didn't know what to think. But you need a good set up to get the best from vinyl – a real puzzle?
Plenty of vinyl in Manchester in 91. With Eastern Bloc, Music Junction, and the great Vibes Records in Bury… I recall buying 'Achtung Baby' 'Screamadelica' Jellyfish's 'Bellybutton' and Zep's 'Remasters' on vinyl in 91.
Just got the five Scott Walker albums on vinyl ('Scott' to 'Till The Band Comes In')
and they sound great…
basically, this list is everything Tesco sells.
You're not wrong there, Terence. I decided to buy one a month in the same order I originally bought them between 78 & 79 when it took three weeks paper round money to afford one album. Fopp in Oxford stocks them all. I was doing ok until I realised they are much cheaper in the supermarkets and bang went the plan…
So far I've seen SgtP, Abbey Road, the White and Rubber Soul stocked by the big two supermarkets.