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2012 Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums, Vinyl Sales Rise In The U.S. And UK

Jack-white-blunderbuss2012 was another great year for vinyl album sales. The U.S. saw its 5th year of record-breaking sales while the UK also saw its 5th year of rising sales. Vinyl sales remain a tiny percentage of overall album sales but represent a steadily growing niche feeding audiophiles, collectors and superfans. In the U.S. vinyl sales were predominantly via indie music stores and Jack White was no. 1 with "Blunderbuss."

According to The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Music Industry Report:

"For the fifth consecutive year, more vinyl albums were purchased than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan."

  • "In 2012, vinyl album sales reached 4.6 million in sales, breaking the previous record of 3.9 million LP album sales in 2011."
  • "67% of all vinyl albums were purchased at an independent music store during 2012."
  • "Vinyl album sales in 2012 were up 19% compared to 2011 and accounted for 1.4% of all album sales and 2.3% of all physical album sales."

2012 Top 10 Vinyl Albums in the U.S.

  1. Blunderbuss – Jack White
  2. Abbey Road – Beatles
  3. Babel – Mumford & Sons
  4. El Camino – Black Keys
  5. Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
  6. Bloom – Beach House
  7. For Emma Forever Ago – Bon Iver
  8. Boys & Girls – Alabama Shakes
  9. 21 – Adele
  10. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

In the UK vinyl sales were as robust as in the States and The xx took the top spot with "Coexist."

According to the Official Charts Company:

"Vinyl sales grew for the fifth successive year with a total of 389,000 LPs sold during 2012 – an increase of 15.3% over 2011’s sales of 337,000."

2012 Top 10 Vinyl Albums in the UK

  1. Coexist – The xx
  2. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
  3. Blunderbuss – Jack White
  4. 21 – Adele
  5. Lonerism – Tame Impala
  6. Tempest – Bob Dylan
  7. Bloom – Beach House
  8. An Awesome Wave – Alt-J
  9. Go-Go Boots – Drive-By Truckers
  10. The Wall – Pink Floyd

Though vinyl sales are definitely a niche, there's a strong positive value in having an area of growing sales that encourages creative packaging and connoisseurship.

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Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/App.net) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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3 Comments

  1. There are a number: GZ in the Czech Republic is one. You can sent them a file and get records back. Or Gotta Groove in Cleveland. If you want the best in the USA, RTI in CA and QRP in Salina KS.

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