A Couple of Fun and Weird British Music Sales Stats from 2012
The sales numbers continue to come in music sales in 2012. Here are acouple of fun facts to emerge out of the UK:
1. While Jack White had the best-selling vinyl record in the US last year (Blunderbuss sold 33,000 units, unseating the perennial top-seller, Abbey Road from the Beatles), The xx had the biggest vinyl release in the UK. Coexist ended up on top, narrowly beating David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.
Here’s the entire Top 10. As you can see, it’s pretty eclectic.
1. The xx, Coexist
2. David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
3. Jack White, Blunderbuss
4. Adele, 21
5. Tame Impala, Lonerism
6. Bob Dylan, Tempest
7. Beach Bouse, Bloom
8. Alt-J, An Awesome Wave
9. Drive-By Truckers, Go-Go Boots
10. Pink Floyd, The Wall
By the way, a total of 390,000 vinyl records were sold in the UK in 2012.
2. Sales of cassette singles–yes, you read that right–increased by 300% in the UK last year. This is because Feeder released a song called “Borders” on cassette, which sold 408 of the 604 cassette singles purchased in the UK last year. That’s up 218 from 2011.
Total sales of albums on cassette were 3,823, the biggest of which was a Charles Azavour release called She: The Best Of.
Finally, 270 albums were sold on MiniDisc in 2011. Weird or what?
Figures via the Official Charts Company.
