Vinyl Sales Up 53 Percent So Far in 2015, According to Nielsen

BY Alex HudsonPublished Apr 16, 2015

Last year, vinyl records continued their meteoric rise to prominence. Those who have been predicting that the bubble will burst on the industry will have to keep on waiting, because the quarter-one results are in, and vinyl is continuing to become more and more popular.

According to a report from Nielsen, vinyl sales are up an incredible 53 percent between January and March in the U.S. as compared to the same period last year. This is spurred by a 66 percent increase in catalogue sales and a 37 percent increase in sales of current releases. (Catalogue releases count as albums that are more than 18 months old and aren't charting.)

In the U.S., Nielsen recorded 9.2 million vinyl sales in 2014, up from 6.1 million units the year previous in the U.S. From the way things are going, it looks as if that number will be even higher in 2015.

The top vinyl seller since 2010 is the Beatles' Abbey Road, which has moved 172,000 units. Rounding out the top five are Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More (110,000 units), Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago (102,000 units), Jack White's Lazaretto (92,000 units) and Arctic Monkeys' AM (89,000 units). Again, though, these are U.S. numbers.

Of course, this surge in sales is going to result in even longer wait times at our continent's limited number of vinyl pressing plants. Luckily, some factories are expanding their operations while others are opening their doors for the first time.

Record Store Day is this weekend (April 18), and that is sure to result in another spike in sales — although only some of the new records are worth picking up.

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