Vinyl sales in the U.S. hit a 30 year high last week
Last week was a record-breaking week for the vinyl industry in the U.S.. In the week ending December 23rd, Americans purchases 2.11 million vinyl records, as reported by Billboard.
That made it vinyl’s biggest sales week since all the way back in 1991, when SoundScan started tracking music sales; it was also the first time vinyl’s sales have exceeded two million units in decades. The new record saw a 45% increase from the previous week ending December 16th (1.46 million), probably a result of a Christmas shopping rush.
Kid Cudi was a major part of the record being broken, with his album Man on the Moon III: The Chosen shifting 41,500 vinyls last week. That made him the record holder for the biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artists and a rap album in Nielsen history.
And he seemed pretty happy with the news. “This is HUGE. I wanna thank everyone who went out and copped the vinyl! This is all because of YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL,” he said on Instagram after learning about the records.
2021 continued vinyl’s dominance in music after 2020 was the best year in vinyl’s history, outselling CDs for the first time in 34 years. Interestingly, the vinyl sales record for a week was previously set was during this exact time last year, with 1.84 million units being shifted during the week ending December 24th, 2o20.
The best-selling vinyl album last week was unsurprisingly Adele’s 30, which shifted 59,000 copies and also topped Billboard‘s weekly Vinyl Albums Chart for a fifth consecutive week.
Adele also infamously contributed to a global vinyl shortage when most of the industry became devoted to producing vinyls of 30. Her sales now amount to 293,000 in the U.S. alone. Another artist to enjoy strong vinyl sales this year was Billie Eilish, whose Happier Than Ever shifted 73,000 copies in its first week of release.
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This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.