Vinyl Is Striving
Let’s deal with some numbers today. The three record store days this past season, on August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th, combined to help generate 1.41 million album sales in the US, vinyl alone, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Record Store Day is usually celebrated in the spring, celebrating not only vinyl releases, but indie vinyl stores as well. This year it was supposed to be on April 18th, but due to the Covid desaster, it was spread over three days in late summer/early fall.
Among the albums which were specifically released for the third drop was the Miles Davis red opaque vinyl of “Double Image: Rare Miles From The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions”. Here are the numbers for the individual days for the US: August 29th helped drive 525.000 albums for the week. September 26th had 444.000 additonal albums on vinyl, and the week of October 24th drove 440.000 LPs. To better understand the impact of vinyl sales, according to Billboard, look at the average weekly sales total: the ten weeks from July 31st until October 29th that did not include the three record store drops, indie stores sold a weekly average of 231.000 LPs and meanwhile, the three drops generated a weekly average of 469.000 in LP sales.
Here is a look at the US numbers for the three record store drops. It is quiet impressive:
Drop one, Aug. 29 — sales week ending Sept. 3
Industry CD and vinyl album sales: 1.55 million
Indie store CD and vinyl album sales: 716,000 (46% of industry)
Industry vinyl album sales: 801,000
Indie store vinyl album sales: 525,000 (66% of industry)
Drop two, Sept. 26 — sales week ending Oct. 1
Industry CD and vinyl album sales: 1.50 million
Indie store CD and vinyl album sales: 625,000 (42% of industry)
Industry vinyl album sales: 714,000
Indie store vinyl album sales: 444,000 (62% of industry)
Drop three, Oct. 24 — sales week ending Oct. 29
Industry CD and vinyl album sales: 1.49 million
Indie store CD and vinyl album sales: 606,000 (41% of industry)
Industry vinyl album sales: 743,000
Indie store vinyl album sales: 440,000 (59% of industry)
