For the second time in a month, weekly vinyl album sales in the U.S. hit a new record high.
A total of 1.445 million vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 17 (up 9% compared to the previous week) – the biggest week yet for vinyl LP sales since Nielsen Music/MRC Data began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. The previous record week was set only two weeks earlier, when 1.253 million were sold in the week ending Dec. 3.
The top-selling vinyl album in the week ending Dec. 17 was Taylor Swift’s Folklore, with 23,000 copies sold (up 543%). Folklore got a big boost from sale pricing and promotion in Swift’s official webstore, where it’s available in assorted color variants.
The industry could hit another record high in the week ending Thursday, Dec. 24, as that tracking week will capture a full seven shopping days leading up to the Christmas Day holiday on Friday, Dec. 25.
Vinyl album sales have surpassed 1 million in a single week four times, and three of those have occurred in the last month: 1.445 million (week ending Dec. 17), 1.253 million (week ending Dec. 3) and 1.195 million (week ending Dec. 10). The other million-selling week came in 2019, when 1.243 million were sold in the week ending Dec. 26, 2019.
