Despite vinyl shortages and the dominance of streaming platforms, vinyl sales are not only on the rise — they're breaking records. According to Billboard, 2.11 million vinyl albums were sold in the US the week ending December 23, making it the largest sales week since 1991, when MRC Data first began tracking music sales.
In the age of MRC Data, this marks the first time that weekly vinyl album sales have surpassed two million. For the week ending on December 23, vinyl sales surged by 45 percent compared to the week prior, thanks to a ramp-up in holiday shopping.
The top-selling vinyl album for this same week was — surprise, surprise — Adele's 30, with nearly 60,000 copies sold. With over 293,000 copies sold on vinyl, 30 is 2021's top-selling record in the US. The album's rushed release was widely blamed for exacerbating delays at vinyl pressing plants.
Beyond its two million-vinyl albums sold milestone, this period was the sixth consecutive week of million-plus vinyl sales. More LPs were sold than CDs and digital downloads combined.
The previous high for weekly vinyl sales in the US occurred almost exactly a year ago, when 1.84 million vinyl records were sold in the week ending on December 24, 2020.
Vinyl album sales are on the rise in Canada too, with Global News reporting a 62.2 percent increase from May 2020 to May 2021. Suffice to say, vinyl isn't going anywhere — at least not anywhere but up.
Speaking of a shit-ton of vinyl, get to know the Canadian vinyl maker who cut every Arkells holiday 7-inch by hand.
In the age of MRC Data, this marks the first time that weekly vinyl album sales have surpassed two million. For the week ending on December 23, vinyl sales surged by 45 percent compared to the week prior, thanks to a ramp-up in holiday shopping.
The top-selling vinyl album for this same week was — surprise, surprise — Adele's 30, with nearly 60,000 copies sold. With over 293,000 copies sold on vinyl, 30 is 2021's top-selling record in the US. The album's rushed release was widely blamed for exacerbating delays at vinyl pressing plants.
Beyond its two million-vinyl albums sold milestone, this period was the sixth consecutive week of million-plus vinyl sales. More LPs were sold than CDs and digital downloads combined.
The previous high for weekly vinyl sales in the US occurred almost exactly a year ago, when 1.84 million vinyl records were sold in the week ending on December 24, 2020.
Vinyl album sales are on the rise in Canada too, with Global News reporting a 62.2 percent increase from May 2020 to May 2021. Suffice to say, vinyl isn't going anywhere — at least not anywhere but up.
Speaking of a shit-ton of vinyl, get to know the Canadian vinyl maker who cut every Arkells holiday 7-inch by hand.
