Arctic Monkeys, Jack White, Oasis help 2014 vinyl sales surpass last year’s total


Arctic Monkeys live in New York (Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)

Arctic Monkeys live in New York (Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)




2014 sales on vinyl in the UK have surpassed last year’s total, which in itself was a record-breaking year for the format.

Research conducted by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has found that more than 844,000 vinyl records have been purchased this year, a figure already ahead of the 2013 total of 829,243 and which is expected to surpass one million by the end of 2014.

So far, Arctic Monkeys‘ hugely popular ‘AM‘, Jack White‘s typically forward-thinking ‘Lazaretto‘ and the remastered version of Oasis‘ classic debut ‘Definitely Maybe‘ are the year’s biggest selling vinyls.

“This is an extraordinary turnaround,” ERA director general Kim Beyley reflects. “Independent retailers were first to identify the untapped potential for vinyl and made it the focus of Record Store Day. With record labels now making more vinyl available, this trend shows no sign of abating.”

Vinyl sales are now four-times what they were in 2008, when initiatives such as Record Store Day began to boost interest in what was then an almost defunct market. It should be noted, however, that this total only amounts for 3% of physical music sold in the UK, with CDs still hugely dominant and accounting for the remaining 97%.


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