Turns out it’s still hip to plunk down a needle and listen to new music the old-fashioned way. For five consecutive years, vinyl-loving listeners have ratcheted up sales to keep this small but dedicated market alive and thriving.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, 2012 was another record-breaking year as vinyl album sales rose 17.7 percent from the previous year.
The top 10 vinyl albums of 2012 read like a playlist on 89.3 the Current (think: Mumford & Sons, Black Keys and Bon Iver). Jack White’s “Blunderbuss” topped the chart. But the band sitting in the No. 2 spot might come as a surprise.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2012 Music Industry Report:
• In 2012, vinyl album sales hit 4.6 million, smashing the previous record of 3.9 million in 2011.
• That total was higher than in any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan (dating to 1991).
• But vinyl only accounted for 2.3 percent of all physical album sales. CD album sales hit 193 million.
• Independent music stores dominated sales, handling 67 percent of all vinyl purchases.
• Following White’s “Blunderbuss,” the No. 2 position belonged to the Beatles. The legendary band’s reissued “Abbey Road” from 1969 sold 30,000 copies, proving the British invasion is still hot the second time around. â–¡
Morgan Mercer is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.
