Vinyl 2013: Top Selling Albums, Best Cover Art
With vinyl sales up in 2013 in both the U.S. and UK, we're far past the "fad" and "did you know vinyl's back?" phase. Yes, vinyl is back and though it may only be a little over 2% of U.S. album sales it's a growing figure that's benefiting specific sectors of the industry as well as music fans and collectors. There was plenty of great cover art and many excellent releases now recognized in end of year lists which we share below.
Top Selling Vinyl
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
U.S. – 2013 Top Ten Selling Vinyl Albums
1. DAFT PUNK – RANDOM ACCESS MEORIES
2. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY
3. ARCADE FIRE – REFLEKTOR
4. MUMFORD & SONS – BABEL
5. MUMFORD & SONS – SIGH NO MORE
6. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – …LIKE CLOCKWORK
7. BON IVER – FOR EMMA FOREVER AGO
8. LUMINEERS – LUMINEERS
9. THE NATIONAL – TROUBLE WILL FIND ME
10. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – 20/20 EXPERIENCE
Arctic Monkeys – AM
UK – The Official Top 10 Biggest Selling Vinyl Albums Of 2013
1. ARCTIC MONKEYS – AM
2. DAFT PUNK – RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES
3. THE NEXT DAY DAVID BOWIE
4. TOMORROW'S HARVEST BOARDS OF CANADA
5. LIKE CLOCKWORK QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
6. REFLEKTOR ARCADE FIRE
7. MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY VAMPIRE WEEKEND
8. TROUBLE WILL FIND ME THE NATIONAL
9. AMOK ATOMS FOR PEACE
10. PUSH THE SKY AWAY NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
Best Cover Art
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip – Repent Replenish Repeat
Cover art is a huge part of the appeal of record albums and the Best Art Vinyl 2013 list (via @hifidelics) is a nice way to see some outstanding examples.
NME shares an impressive artistic effort with 15 Album Covers From 2013 Christmasified including the opening thumbnail above of the Christmasified "AM" cover. They're more Christmasier!
NME also provides a more straightforward Top 40 Album Sleeves of 2013.
Over at Popular Photography they're asking for your help in updating The 100 Best Album Cover Photos Ever.
Top Vinyl Releases
Lonnie Holley – Keeping A Record Of It
The Vinyl Factory presents a 5 part Top Vinyl Releases of 2013.
Noisecreep weights in with 10 Best Vinyl Releases of 2013.
More:
- Halloween Vinyl Releases: John Carpenter's Halloween, Mondo Zombie Boogaloo & More!
- Vinyl News: Beware Fake Rarities, Arctic Monkey Unboxing, Maximizing Direct-To-Fan
- Why You Shouldn't Buy Vinyl At Urban Outfitters
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is building a writing hub at Flux Research. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Hi there – enjoyed your posting re: album cover art. Each year, around this time, I do a fairly comprehensive article that reviews both the “best of the year” and “worst of the year” lists of album cover art, so if you’re ever looking to present something a bit broader in scope to your readers, I’d be happy to work with you on something. Here’s the link to my most-recent article – http://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/best-and-worst-album-cover-art-lists-2013-summary-and-analysis/ Keep up the good work – Mike G – AlbumCoverHallofFame.com