HMV is predicting that 2017 will be its biggest year for sales of vinyl albums since the late 1980s – thanks in large part to new albums released this year by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher.
The BPI have predicted that the total UK sales of vinyl albums will exceed four million by the end of the year – the highest figure recorded since it began collecting data in the early 1990s. HMV are expected to sell 1.5 million vinyl albums in 2017, with sales already up 31% on last year.
HMV have pointed to the success of new solo albums from the likes of Sheeran, Liam, Noel and Rag’n’Bone Man this year as an explanation for the rise in sales.
“A strong year for new releases from artists such as Ed Sheeran and Rag’n’Bone Man has been followed up with a really strong back end, with the Gallagher brothers driving the LP sales into the final quarter,” HMV’s music manager John Hirst said.
“Sales also continue to soar across our back catalogue, perhaps as people use streaming as a discovery tool alongside wanting to browse and collect physical music formats.”
The late Amy Winehouse‘s second album ‘Back To Black’, which was released in 2006, rounds off HMV’s top five best-selling albums after Sheeran, the Gallagher brothers and Rag’n’Bone Man.
Meanwhile, a new Google Maps tool has provided vinyl fans with a worldwide map of nearly every record store in the world.
Source: NME