Published
Fri, Apr 15, 2016, 17:00
- There have been nearly 640,000 LPs purchased in the first quarter of 2016.
The British Phonographic Industry announced today that vinyl sales for the first quarter of 2016 have increased 61.8% compared to the same period last year.
Vinyl sales climbed for the eighth year in a row in 2015, topping out at 2.1 million units (the highest sales in 21 years). The BPI now expects sales to surpass 3 million in 2016 if the rising trend continues. The biggest seller of the year so far is David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, which has sold nearly twice as many copies on LP as the top vinyl seller for all of last year. Three of the top ten sellers of Q1 were Bowie records, with another title clocking in at No. 11.
There's been a lot of big news for the format this year. British supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury's both began stocking vinyl; the RIAA reported that US vinyl sales were worth more than Spotify and YouTube ads; a Canadian company, Viryl, is about to start shipping new and improved vinyl pressing machines. Tomorrow is Record Store Day, which will undoubtedly make for a spike in sales as well.