Taylor Swift and Record Store Day see highest weekly vinyl sales in 30 years

Vinyl sales recently enjoyed their highest weekly total sales in three decades, thanks to Record Store Day and Taylor Swift.

• READ MORE: Record Store Day 2024: Check out the full list of releases 

The report was shared by digital entertainment and retail association ERA, which confirmed that one week last month saw the sales of vinyl records reach a new high in recent years.

It was the week that Record Store Day (April 20) took place that the figures marked the highest in 30 years, as countless music lovers flocked to both physical and online stores to purchase physical copies of their favourite releases.

As well as seeing lots of exclusive releases from musicians, Record Store Day also happened to take place one day after pop icon Taylor Swift shared her latest album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which immediately topped the charts, took over social media and shifted over 2.6million copies in the US alone.

Thanks to both, data from the Official Charts Company has shown that the week saw 269,134 vinyl albums and 37,656 vinyl singles sold – making for a total of 306,791 units.

The figure is the highest out of any week on record since week five in 1994, when the current statistics began.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ alone accounted for just shy of a quarter of the week’s total vinyl album sales (24.7 per cent), and many of these were sold at independent shops as part of Record Store Day.

Similarly, Music Week reported that sales of vinyl albums exclusive to independent record shops as part of Record Store Day 2024 made up approximately 37.2 per cent of the vinyl albums market.

“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,” Kim Bayley, CEO of ERA, said in a statement following the news (via Music Week).

She also recalled how both Swift and Record Store Day are responsible for the huge spike in figures this year. “Taylor Swift has long been a supporter of indie record stores and served as Record Store Day’s global ambassador in 2022,” she explained.

“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, the deputy CEO at Utopia Music shared a similar statement: “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.”

The reports of the new record number of sales comes after it was confirmed that 2023 was the 16th consecutive year of growth for the vinyl format, and that nearly half of the Top 10 biggest weeks for vinyl in the past 30 years have been over the past 12 months.

With ‘TTDP’ selling 2.61million units since its release on April 19, the album is the highest-selling LP since Adele’s ‘25’ – and traditional album sales, which include digital downloads, CDs, vinyl LPs and cassettes, accounted for just over 1.9million of the sales.

Previously, it was confirmed that the LP delivered the UK’s biggest opening week in seven years, and managed to break Spotify’s record for most-streamed album in a day with 300million streams.

News of the popularity of vinyl also follows news that the number of independent record shops in the UK was recently reported as hitting a 10-year high, and that sales of vinyl records in the UK had hit their highest level since 1990.

According to the BPI’s analysis, the “ever-rising demand for vinyl albums and other music releases on physical format” reflects a “thriving market for music on the high street”. It also cited the popularity of independent record stores and the success of shops like HMV, which reopened its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street last year.

The movement is carrying over beyond HMV too, as recent days have seen iconic UK music store Our Price relaunch, 20 years after it was forced to close its doors.

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