The combination of Record Store Day (April 20) and the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department meant vinyl sales enjoyed their highest weekly total in 30 years, according to analysis by digital entertainment and retail association ERA.
Data from the Official Charts Company show 269,134 vinyl albums and 37,656 vinyl singles were sold in chart week 17, making a total of 306,791. This is higher than in any week since week five 1994 when current statistics began.
Sales of vinyl copies of The Tortured Poets Department – many of them sold through independent record stores – accounted for just under a quarter (24.7%) of the week’s vinyl album sales.
Taylor Swift’s support has undoubtedly helped drive even more younger fans to indie record shops
Kim Bayley
Meanwhile, sales of vinyl albums exclusive to independent record shops as part of Record Store Day accounted for an estimated 37.2% of the vinyl albums market.
2023 marked the 16th consecutive year of growth for the format. Four of the Top 10 biggest weeks for vinyl in the past 30 years have come in the past 12 months.
Kim Bayley, CEO of ERA, said: “Indie record shops were first to realise that the growth of streaming would paradoxically provide an opportunity for the most physical of physical formats, and vinyl has sat at the heart of Record Store Day’s celebration of indie record shop culture since 2008.“
Bayley said it was particularly appropriate that it was the combination of RSD and Taylor Swift which helped deliver the huge result.
“Taylor Swift has long been a supporter of indie record stores and served as Record Store Day’s global ambassador in 2022,” she said. “Her support has undoubtedly helped drive even more younger fans to indie record shops, helping sustain the stores which are one of the most vibrant elements of the music ecosystem.”
Drew Hill, deputy CEO at Utopia Music (overseeing Proper Music Group & UDS), said: “Even considering the extra push from Record Store Day and Taylor Swift, the idea that vinyl can rack up a week’s worth of pre-digital era sales shows physical music can stand tall alongside streaming. By continuing to breathe new life into record retailers up and down the country, music fans’ long abiding love affair with the format is placing it back at the heart of release campaigns from world-leading superstars.”
PHOTO: Banquet
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