The vinyl resurgence continued through 2014, the Wall Street Journal notes in a fascinating piece yesterday, and like most things, there’s good news and bad news. On the positive, nearly eight million vinyl records were bought in the United States over the past 12 months, a 49 percent increase in sales from the previous year. The bad? Vinyl accounts for only 2 percent of the market share, and as the WSJ notes, most vinyl factories can’t keep up with the demand. One plant, United in Tennessee, accounts for 90 percent of all vinyl production.
So who dominated the turntable charts in 2014? Some usual suspects.
Jack White’s sophomore album Lazaretto was our country’s best-seller, moving 75,700 vinyl units — making it the best-selling domestic vinyl release since Pearl Jam issued Vitalogy in 1994.
Rounding out the Top 3 are Arctic Monkeys’ AM with 40,600 (a release that surpassed a million in sales in the United Kingdom, according to the NME), and the Black Keys’ Turn Blue, which sold 28,300. Lana Del Rey’s debut Born to Die, and Beck’s Morning Phase rounded out the Top 5.
Here’s a closer look…
1. Jack White, Lazaretto: 75,700
2. Arctic Monkeys, AM: 40,600
3. The Black Keys, Turn Blue: 28,300
4. Lana Del Rey, Born to Die: 27,200
5. Beck, Morning Phase: 25,200
