2016 has been the subject of much derision, especially for ‘taking’ many of our most beloved musical icons. However, it was a good year for Vinyl, with UK sales reaching a 25-year high, as reported by Fact Magazine.
Sales of the black plastic rose 53% from 2015 to shift 3.2 million albums in 2016. Indeed, the list of the best selling albums features two of those legends lost to the world in the last year, David Bowie and Prince. David Bowie led the pack with his last album, ‘Blackstar’, selling more than twice as many copies as 2015’s biggest selling vinyl album, Adele’s ’25.’ Despite this huge rise relative to previous years, however, vinyl still only accounts for 2.6% of overall music sales. CD sales and downloads, meanwhile, fell by 11.7% and 29.6% respectively. CD sales were actually led by a Mozart compilation last year, which you can read more about here.
Amy Winehouse’s final work, ‘Back To Black’, was the second best selling vinyl album, possibly spurred on by the DVD release of Asif Kapadia’s documentary in December of 2015. In third was the soundtrack for the film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, while Radiohead’s ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’, which was nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize, sold the fourth most copies. As for the rest of the list, it consists largely of re-issues from artists such as The Stone Roses, The Beatles and Prince. The full list is shown below:
1 – David Bowie – ‘Blackstar’
2 – Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’
3 – Various Artists – ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Mix 1’
4 – Radiohead – ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’
5 – Fleetwood Mac – ‘Rumours’
6 – The Stone Roses – ‘Stone Roses’
7 – Bob Marley – ‘Legend’
8- The Beatles – ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
9 – Prince – ‘Purple Rain’
10 – Nirvana – ‘Nevermind’
The vinyl revival has traditionally been associated with young hipsters who grew up with CDs and downloads and want to return to something more authentic. However, as can be seen above, it tends to be older albums that dominate the best selling vinyl lists and this has sparked some debate as to who is actually driving the vinyl renaissance. The Telegraph provided anecdotal evidence to suggest that, as might be suggested by the presence of albums like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in the list, older buyers are, in fact, equally, if not more, important. Nigel House, manager and co-founder of the Rough Trade records shops, claims, ‘I see those customers who bought the album originally when it came out and now can’t find them.’ However, an ICM study from April 2016, reported in What Hi-Fi?, suggests that the picture is a mixed one. 33% of vinyl records are purchased by the 25-34 age group, while 22% of buyers are aged 35-44. Only 16% of vinyl devotees in the survey fell into the 18-24 bracket. Perhaps the most interesting nugget from this survey was actually that vinyl sales seem to be working hand in hand with the rise of streaming; with 45% of those surveyed saying they had listened to the record on a streaming service before buying it on vinyl. Even more remarkably, 48% of those who had bought vinyl within the last month said they had yet to play the album – instead preferring to use it ‘more for décor’, according to What Hi-Fi?
