Record Store Day once again powered historic sales numbers for vinyl albums and singles in the US, according to Nielsen Music.
The 11th annual festivities, staged on 4/21, helped yield a whopping 733,000 vinyl albums sold in the week ending 4/26 — a record for Record Store Day week, and the third-largest weekly sum for vinyl albums since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991. Further, of that sum, 580,000 vinyl albums were sold at independent retailers — the single largest week for the format at the retail sector in Nielsen Music history.
The annual indie music retailer celebration traditionally offers a slate of exclusive and limited-edition vinyl albums and singles, generally only found at indie stores. In turn, with so many unique vinyl offerings all going on sale at the same time (with a bevy from A-list acts), it’s no surprise that vinyl sales shot through the roof in the wake of Record Store Day.
The top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive album title at indie stores during the week was the red vinyl release of Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits album. It was followed by David Bowie’s Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78) and Neil Young’s Tonight’s The Night – Live At The Roxy.
The top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive single at indie stores was Led Zeppelin’s double-sided 7-inch single “Friends”/“Rock And Roll” — which also marked the legendary band’s first release for Record Store Day. The #2 and #3 biggest singles were David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance (Full Length Demo)” on 12-inch vinyl, and Sufjan Stevens’ 10-inch translucent vinyl of “Mystery Of Love.” (The latter was a three-song set that also included his other two song contributions for the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack: “Futile Devices” and “Visions Of Gideon.”)
See the full list of the top 25 selling Record Store Day-exclusive albums and singles, below.
Here are some statistics about 2018 Record Store Day and its sales impact:
— 733,000 vinyl albums were sold, industry-wide, in the US in the week ending 4/26. That’s the biggest week ever for vinyl album sales during a Record Store Day week, and the largest week for vinyl albums outside of the Christmas season since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991. (The two larger weeks were registered in the frame ending 12/24/2015, with 753,000 copies sold; and the week ending 12/21/2017, with 811,000 sold.)
— In the week ending 4/26, vinyl album sales were up 190% compared to the prior week (733,000 vs. 253,000), with 98% of that gain coming from independent record stores.
— Overall album sales across all sellers of music grew 17% in the week ending 4/26 — the largest weekly gain in sales in 2018, the first time this year that volume grew by more than 10% in a week, and the biggest weekly increase since the frame ending Dec. 21, 2017 (up 32%).
— Strikingly, without the album sales gains registered by indie record stores in the week ending 4/26, overall album sales would have been down 2.5 percent that week (instead of being up 17 percent).
— 25 percent of all albums sold in the week ending 4/26 were sold at independent record stores.
— Total album sales at independent record stores rose by 200 percent in the week ending 4/26.
— Total album sales were up by 23% at independent record stores, as compared to Record Store Day week last year (799,000 vs. 649,000).
Top Record Store Day-Exclusive Albums At Independent Record Stores
- 01 Bruce Springsteen – Greatest Hits
- 02 David Bowie – Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78)
- 03 Neil Young – Tonight’s The Night Live At The Roxy
- 04 Rage Against The Machine – Live At The Democratic National Convention 2000
- 05 Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead – Dylan & The Dead
- 06 Pink Floyd – Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Mono)
- 07 Prince – 1999
- 08 The Cure – Mixed Up
- 09 Grateful Dead – Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 2/27/69
- 10 Phish – Billy Breathes
- 11 Nas – Illmatic: Live From The Kennedy Center
- 12 The Doors – The Matrix Part II
- 13 Ramones – Sundragon Sessions
- 14 Madonna – Madonna (The First Album)
- 15 The Cure – Torn Down (Mixed Up Extra)
- 16 The National – Boxer Live In Brussels
- 17 The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request
- 18 Jerry Garcia – Run For The Roses
- 19 Soundgarden – A-Sides
- 20 Tom Waits – Bastards
- 21 Tom Waits – Brawlers
- 22 David Bowie – Bowie Now
- 23 Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Mirror To Mirror)
- 24 Sublime – 89 Vision
- 25 Madonna – You Can Dance Source: Nielsen Music, for the week ending 4/26/2018.
Top Record Store Day-Exclusive Singles At Independent Record Stores
- 01 Led Zeppelin – “Friends”/”Rock And Roll”
- 02 David Bowie – “Let’s Dance (Full Length Demo)”
- 03 Sufjan Stevens – “Mystery Of Love”
- 04 The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”
- 05 Jimi Hendrix – “Mannish Boy”/”Trash Men”
- 06 Fleet Foxes – “Crack Up (Choral Version)”/”In the Morning (Live in Switzerland)”
- 07 Cheech & Chong – Up In Smoke (40th Anniversary)
- 08 Descendents – “Who We Are”
- 09 The Police – “Roxanne”
- 10 Phoenix – “Monologue”
- 11 The Flaming Lips – “The Story Of Yum Yum And Dragon”
- 12 Florence & The Machine – “Sky Full Of Song”/”New York Poem (For Polly)”
- 13 Steven Wilson How Big the Space
- 14 Def Leppard – Live At Abbey Road
- 15 Mac DeMarco/Shamir – Beat Happening Covers
- 16 The Regrettes/The Distillers – “Side By Side”
- 17 Czarface – “Man’s Worst Enemy”
- 18 Elvis Costello – “Someone Else’s Heart”
- 19 Original Cast Of Spongebob Squarepants, The New Musical – “(Just A) Simple Sponge”
- 20 Chris Bell – “I Am The Cosmos”/”You And Your Sister”
- 21 First Aid Kit – “You Are The Problem Here”
- 22 Trampled By Turtles – “Wildflowers”
- 23 Kevin Morby + Waxahatchee – “Farewell Transmission”/”Dark Don’t Hide It”
- 24 The Voidz – “Qyurruys”/”Coul As A Ghoul”
- 25 MC5 – “I Can Only Give You Everything”/”I Just Don’t Know” Source: Nielsen Music, for the week ending 4/26/2018.
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