Despite all the criticisms that the so-called ‘vinyl revival’ has hit its peak and we’ll soon start to see sales of the niche music format decline, Billboard are reporting that vinyl sales are actually up by a staggering 38.4 percent this year.
Nielsen Music recently unveiled their mid-year report, revealing the year’s most successful artists, albums, and singles, as well as the continued froth of vinyl. Sales rose to an almost 40 percent increase on 2014, with 5.6 million units moved so far this year.
This means that 2015 is on track to be the eighth consecutive year that sees a rise in vinyl sales. While industry pundits aren’t all that surprised by the numbers, one surprise is just what the highest selling vinyl of the year is.
Believe it or not, but pop star Taylor Swift’s blockbuster fifth album, 1989, is this year’s biggest selling vinyl album. Not exactly the kind of artist audiophile vinyl nerds tend to like, nor the format for your typical Swift devotee.
Swift’s fifth album, which has yielded several mega-hits, including the ubiquitous smash ‘Shake It Off’, has shifted 34,000 units so far this year, topping a list that also includes releases from more standard vinyl lover fair, such as Sufjan Stevens and Alabama Shakes.
[include_post id=”442092″]
Stevens comes in second, having sold 32,000 copies of his universally acclaimed new album Carrie & Lowell, followed by Arctic Monkeys, who are still riding high with the vinyl edition of their album AM which came in second to Jack White’s Lazaretto on the 2014 end-of-year list.
What’s perhaps most interesting is the way vinyl takes up varying portions of total LP sales for each artist. For example, Stevens’ 32,000 vinyl units take up 30 percent of the 105,000 units the LP moved across all formats. Meanwhile, Taylor’s vinyl sales constitute just 2.5 percent of her 2015 total.
There’s also a few all-time classics in the list, including Miles Davis’ iconic jazz essential Kind of Blue, which comes in fifth on the list, while Pink Floyd’s timeless Dark Side of the Moon sits at a very respectable No 7.
We’re not exactly sure what this all means, but one could infer that vinyl could actually be entering the mainstream or maybe it’s the mainstream that’s now entering the vinyl market, and looks to be taking over, too.
10 Best Selling Vinyl Albums of 2015
1. Taylor Swift – 1989 (34,000)
2. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (32,000)
3. Arctic Monkeys – AM (27,000)
4. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color (26,000)
5. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (23,000)
6. Sam Smith – In the Lonely Hour (23,000)
7. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (23,000)
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack (22,000)
9. Father John Misty – I Love You Honeybear (22,000)
10. Hozier – Hozier (21,000)
