Record Store Day (April 17) releases swarm the Tastemakers Albums, Vinyl Albums and Hot Singles Sales charts as the annual independent music retailer celebration brings a bevy of unique, limited-edition and vinyl titles to the lists.
In the U.S., indie retailers sold 30 percent of all physical albums and singles in the week ending April 21 (749,000 out of 2.5 million), according to Nielsen Music. Vinyl LP sales were unsurprisingly robust during the latest tracking week as the vast majority of Record Store Day releases are produced on the format — with 521,000 vinyl albums sold during the tracking week (up 131 percent). That’s the largest week for the format since the frame ending Dec. 24, 2015 (753,000), and the biggest week for vinyl LPs outside of the Christmas season since Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991.
Some further statistics about Record Store Day and vinyl sales in the week ending April 21:
— 13 percent of all albums sold were on vinyl (521,000 of 4.1 million).
— Indie stores sold 74 percent of all vinyl albums for the week.
— Indie stores sold 640,000 albums – a gain of 131 percent compared to the previous week (278,000).
— Indie stores sold 383,000 vinyl albums – a gain of 320 percent compared to the previous week (91,000).
— Indie stores sold 108,000 physical singles – a gain of 2,600 percent compared to the previous week (4,000).
— Indie stores sold 100,000 12” vinyl singles – a gain of 4,900 percent compared to the previous week (2,000).
— Record Store Day limited edition albums and singles combined to sell nearly 300,000 copies, according to Nielsen Music.
Via Billboard
