Put a needle on it
For those of you who’ve been hoarding your parents’ 33 1/3 records since high school, fervidly believing that they will one day regain their worth and merit, you can now rejoice: vinyl has officially made a comeback. According to Nielsen SoundScan, an information system that tracks music and music video product sales throughout the U.S. and Canada, vinyl records had their highest tally since SoundScan began tracking music sales in the late 1980s — 2.5 million new albums sold. This number represents a — how appropriate — 33 percent increase in vinyl sales since 2008.
Although the Los Angeles Times “Pop & Hiss” music blog maintains that “overall vinyl sales are minuscule in the grand scheme of the industry,” this unexpected rise undoubtedly means analog is starting to earn some R-E-S-P-E-C-T from the digital generation. Now, if only Nielsen could track the ratio between vinyl buyers and fedora owners…
Below is a list of the top 10 best-selling vinyl albums of 2009:
1. The Beatles, Abbey Road (34,800)
2. Michael Jackson, Thriller (29,800)
3. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (14,000)
4. Wilco, Wilco (13,200)
5. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (12,700)
6. Pearl Jam, Backspacer (12,500)
7. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (11,600)
8. Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (11,500)
9. Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (11,500)
10. Radiohead, In Rainbows (11,400)