Record Store Day wrap: vinyl sales up, indies snag 31% of physical sale, Bowie reigns

Vinyl sales were up after this year’s global Record Store Day (RSD) on April 22.

They rose 14% in the United States and 40% in the UK from last year’s RSD. In both countries, RSD 2017 was declared the most successful in its ten year history.

In the US, album sales jumped 213% to 547,000 across major and independent retailers, the biggest sales aside from Christmas week.

Indie stores specifically indicated a 484% boost with 409,000 vinyl album sales in the week after RSD. Indies had 31% of all physical sales in the USA.

According to Nielsen Music, the biggest vinyl seller for this year’s RSD was The Grateful Dead’s P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was followed by David Bowie’s Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ’74)..

Of vinyl albums released just for RSD 2017, the Grateful Dead topped the list again. At #2 was The Doors’ Live at the Matrix and The Black Angels’ Deathsong.

In this Top 15 were The Cure’s Greatest Hits, Santana’s Woodstock Saturday August 16 1969, Stevie Nicks’ Rarities and The Cure’s Greatest Hits Acoustic. David Bowie appeared twice, with Cracked Actor and Bowpromo.

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Bowie was again the biggest act in the UK’s RSD 2017, according to the Official Chart Company. The 230 stores that participated reported fans queuing up in heavy rain for hours before they opened.

The Thin White Duke appeared eleven times in the album and singles list. After being the UK’s top vinyl seller with The Man Who Sold the World last year, he topped the list with Cracked Actor.

But he was dethroned this year in the vinyl singles ratings by The Smiths’ previously unreleased version of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side.

Bowie singles had ruled for three years, with Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide in 2014, Changes in 2015 and TCV15 last year.

He was at #2 this year, though, with the No Plan EP which was specially issued in clear blue vinyl, complete with etching.

At #3 was Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive, #4 was U2’s Red Hill Mining Town picture disc and at #5 were The Beatles’ double A-sided Strawberry Fields Forever/ Penny Lane, still considered the greatest singles coupling ever.

The top selling vinyl albums in the UK due to RSD saw Bowie at first and second spot, with Cracked Actor and Bowpromo respectively.

The rest of the Top 10 were The Cure’s Greatest Hits, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s Hammersmith Odeon London ’75, The Sex Pistols’ God Save The Sex Pistols, Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack, The Cures Acoustic Hits, Pink Floyd’s London 1966/1967, Elastica’s Elastica and Ocean Colour Scene’s Mosley Shoals – Live taking tenth position.

Last year, 3.2 million LPs were sold in the UK, now accounting for 15% of physical sales. Ten years ago, only 200,000 albums were being sold a year.

The vinyl market was worth over $15 million in Australia last year.

Even if retailers are divided as to how long the vinyl renaissance will last, artists and record companies are working to keep fans’ interest up.

One strategy is optical illusion patterned vinyl sleeves, which come to life as the sleeve is moved.