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All-new vinyl charts launched ahead of Record Store Day
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 13 April 2015
Because there can never be enough music charts – in fact, next month we’re launching the Music Charts Chart, tracking which of the 716 music charts is most popular in any one week – the Official Charts Company has launched another bloomin weekly countdown.
Actually two, in the form of the Official Vinyl Charts, a celebration of that little old vinyl revival which, the stat chiefs at the OCC confirmed this morning, continues unabated, with vinyl album sales up 69% year-on-year in the first quarter, despite 2014 seeing vinyl LP sales reach a 20-year high. Of course, overall vinyl revenues are still generally modest compared to those generated by streaming, downloads and CDs, but the renewed interest in the format is nevertheless good news.
The end-of-year charts for vinyl are often dominated by classic album re-issues, so it will be interesting to see what’s selling in the format on a week-by-week basis. Topping the first ever vinyl album chart is the new long player from All Time Low while the singles list is led by Underworld’s new Frankie Knuckles tribute, so that’s possibly a good start.
The vinyl charts, which will appear each week on the OCC’s website, are going live for the first time just head of this year’s Record Store Day, when more new vinyl releases will be unleashed on the world than is possibly wise. But it keeps eBay busy. And will make the early vinyl charts interesting.
Commenting on all this, OCC chief Martin Talbot told reporters: “We’re delighted to launch the UK’s first Official Vinyl Albums and Official Vinyl Singles charts on OfficialCharts.com, to coincide with Record Store Day this coming weekend. With vinyl album sales up by almost 70% already this year, vinyl junkies could well have snapped up two million units by the end of this year – an extraordinary number, if you consider sales were one-tenth of that just six years ago”.
Meanwhile, speaking for the record sellers, Phil Barton of London’s Sister Ray Records added: “The resurgence in vinyl sales has been a great boost for the independent trade. The launch of the Official Vinyl Charts tells the world that a format that is loved and revered is more relevant now than ever – far from being a curiosity, vinyl is the go-to format for many music fans”.
