For the first time in two decades, the vinyl sales in the UK music market are said to rise over the figure of one million. You can call that the vinyl comeback. Referring to the BPI, Arctic Monkeys “AM” is so far the best-selling album of 2014. The vinyl made a remarkable comeback and is fighting its ways back from 0.1 % (2007) album sales up to 2.0% (2014).
The pole position is even better for the Arctic Monkeys. Considering that the majority of the charts are dominated by reissues of old people favorites.
This may be due to the demographics of vinyl fans. Most of them simply remember the good old times of vinyl. Maybe they all gave them away and now they want to have the gold standard back in the shelves.
International success helps with vinyl sales
However, that doesn’t explain how the Arctic Monkeys got to the top. Chances are, it’s due to the international success of the band. Which gives a much bigger scale for the sales.
The same probably goes for Jack White in the second place. He gained international fame with his band The White Stripes and now he is releasing his solo album. Jack White is a strong supporter of the vinyl. For instance, he is running his own record label Third Man Records in Detroit/USA.
Third Man Records is championing the vinyl comeback
Jack White even has a vintage vinyl recording booth.
Another big chart surprise is British band Royal Blood. Therefore, going straight for the third placing, it shows how much a vivid fan base can translate in direct sales. Also, a bit of hype has never harmed any band. The Brighton duo even just had started their career when they got attention from Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders wearing a band shirt.
With the vinyl hitting bigger sales again, it remains to be seen if the hype continues. After all, 2 % of market share is still not very much and very much a niche. In conclusion, that’s already more than you would have thought 10 years ago.
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*Photo via Good Free Photos