NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News
Cassette sales have more than doubled in the UK in 2020, according to new figures.
The British Phonographic Industry has projected that 157,000 tapes will have been sold in the UK by the end of 2020, despite two national coronavirus lockdowns.
That’s the highest number since 2003, when compilation ‘Now 54’ – featuring the likes of Oasis, Girls Aloud and Busted – was the biggest seller on tape.
The best selling cassettes of 2020 were occupied by Lady Gaga‘s ‘Chromatica’, 5 Seconds of Summer‘s ‘CALM’, Yungblud‘s second album ‘Weird’ and the The 1975‘s ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’.
There was also a 103% increase on cassette sales in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
All the albums in the cassette Top 10 were also 2020 releases.
The predicted best-selling vinyl LPs of 2020 are as follows:
1. Lady Gaga – ‘Chromatica’
2. 5 Seconds Of Summer – ‘CALM’
3. Yungblud – ‘Weird’
4. The 1975 – ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’
5. Blackpink – ‘The Album’
6. Selena Gomez – ‘Rare’
7. Kylie Minogue – ‘Disco’
8. Dua Lipa – ‘Future Nostalgia’
9. Haim – ‘Women In Music Pt III’
10. The Streets – ‘None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive’
It comes after sales of vinyl records in the UK this year were the highest since the early ’90s, with sales growing for the 13th year running.
The new figures revealed that nearly one in five (18%) of all albums purchased across 2020 were vinyl, with 4.8 million LPs being purchased. The new numbers are 10% up on 2019’s figures, and the highest since the Britpop boom of the early 1990s.
Campaigns such as LoveRecordStores, Record Store Day and National Album Day also helped rally sales for independent record shops and specialist chains.
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