Pink Floyd ‘The Endless River’ was the biggest selling album on vinyl in 2014.
The vinyl revival continues, and LP album sales are now at their highest level since the heady days of Britpop in 1995, although it should be noted that this remains a niche format, accounting for less than 2 per cent of the total recorded music market.
Vinyl albums went through the million mark in November and by the end of 2014, boosted by Christmas gifting, very nearly 1.3m copies had been sold.
Demand for vinyl comes mainly from baby boomers who grew up with the format but increasingly also from a new generation of younger fans drawn to its emotional appeal at the heart of Rock music’s heritage.
The most popular recordings tend to come from exciting new Rock bands such as Royal Blood, and iconic heritage acts including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Oasis, which typically dominate the lists of vinyl best sellers. In fact, Pink Floyd’s ‘The Endless River’, the band’s first studio release in 20 years, not only proved the year’s fastest-selling vinyl album, but also the biggest, just ahead of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’.
The volume of CD album sales in 2014 stood at 55.7m, down by 7.9 per cent year-on-year, though still pointing to relatively resilient demand for a format that some commentators had written off, but which many consumers still appreciate, especially when purchasing as a gift item. Together, CD and vinyl still accounted for 49 per cent of all Album Equivalent Sales (AES)3 in 2014.
OFFICIAL VINYL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2014 – Official Charts Company
1. Pink Floyd The Endless River Rhino/Rhino (Warner Music UK)
2. Arctic Monkeys AM Domino Recordings
3. Royal Blood Royal Blood Warner Bros./Warner Bros. (Warner Music UK)
4. Oasis Definitely Maybe Big Brother/Big Brother/Sony Music
5. Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon Rhino/Rhino (Warner Music UK)
6. Jack White Lazaretto XL Recordings/XL Recordings (XL Beggars)
7. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses Silvertone/Sony Music CG (Sony Music Entertainment UK)
8. Foo Fighters Sonic Highways RCA/Columbia Label Group (Sony Music Entertainment UK)
9. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Rhino/Rhino (Warner Music UK)
10. Oasis (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Big Brother/Big Brother/Sony Music
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