Urban Outfitters Claims to Be World's Top Vinyl Retailer

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Sep 25, 2014

Responsible for contributing to the unnecessary revival of crop tops, acid wash jeans and flower crowns, Urban Outfitters is apparently also the world's most successful vinyl record retailer.

"Music is very, very important to the Urban customer," said CEO Calving Hollinger in a meeting with analysts yesterday (as reported by Buzzfeed). "In fact, we are the world's number one vinyl seller."

While Hollinger's declaration has yet to be totally confirmed, the LP revival is undeniable with sales of vinyl records surpassing 6.1 million albums last year in the U.S. — that's the highest number sold since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began keeping track.

Notably, Jack White set a new record this summer when his Lazaretto LP claimed the title of highest first-week vinyl sales of the SoundScan era with 40,000 copies sold the first week.

Also of interest, if Hollinger's statement proves true, is that Urban Outfitters' 18- to 28-year-old target market indicates that those purchasing vinyl are primarily coming from the generation that grew up with an ability to download and stream music.

There's no word yet on how many vinyl copies of "Ohio" were sold at the clothing retailer during their recent decision to stock a blood-splattered Kent State sweatshirt.

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