Vinyl Albums
Abso Lutely Productions, the company behind the Eric and Tim Awesome Show, Good Job!, Moonbase 8, The Eric Andre Show and numerous stand-up comedy specials, unveiled its Abso Lutely Records label on Sept. 30, with the release of stand-up comic and musician Tim Platt’s debut album Teeth Like Beak. The label intends to capitalize on the current popularity of stand-up comedy specials through audio recordings that will be released on vinyl (among other formats), and producer and Abso Lutely partner Dave Kneebone says, give comic artists more creative control and the opportunity to own their work.
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“Abso Lutely Productions has always thrived on giving the ultimate creative control directly to the artists and helping to shepherd their vision to their audience. Trust the idea – it’s at the core of what we do,” Kneebone says. “We created Abso Lutely Records so that we can help push performances and performers that we love, but who might not quickly find an audience on their own.
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Although the label won’t limit its releases to musical comedy, Kneebone says Platt — who has written songs for Sesame Street and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — is the ideal choice for Abso Lutely’s first album, in part, because vinyl will be a key component of its business plan. Teeth Like Beak, which was recorded at Brooklyn’s Union Hall in February, is a mix of songs, character work, one-liners and confessional stories.
Abso Lutely has produced projects for Netflix, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, HBO, and Showtime, and worked with such break-out talents as Andre, Nathan Fielder and Hannah Einbinder, as well as comedy veterans Scott Aukerman, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross and Andy Daly. It’s more recent stand-up special productions include Einbinder’s Everything Must Go, John Early’s Now More Than Ever and Brent Weinbach’s Popular Culture. In 2023, Abso Lutely — — which was formed in 2007 to produce the surreal sketch comedy show, Adult Swim‘s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! — partnered with the comic improv institution, the Upright Citizens Brigade, which minted such contemporary comics and actors as Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Donald Glover, Kate McKinnon and Nick Kroll.
Kneebone spoke to Billboard about his love of comedy albums and vinyl, Abso Lutely’s business strategy, which includes giving comics more control of their work, and the growing role of social media in breaking talent, among other subjects.
I’ve got to ask you — is Kneebone your actual surname?
It is. It’s an old Cornish name — English miners from way back.
I cursed it all the time growing up. What a dumbass name. But as you age and you grow into it, especially in this business, it doesn’t hurt to have a somewhat distinct name attached to you.
Why start a record label at this period in time?
It’s something that we — particularly Tim Heidecker, who is a musician and a comedian — have been talking about for a long time. But it was never our core competency. We didn’t know how to run a label. As time went on and we started spending more time shooting standup specials — it’s a big moment right now for standup specials — we were like, why not us? Hannah Einbinder, who just did her special for Max, was keen on getting a record made of the special. I was like, that’s a great idea. I went home that night and thought, there’s no reason that we can’t give that outlet to these folks that we’re working with.
I grew up listening to comedy records: Bob Newhart and Steve Martin and Bill Cosby and Bob and Doug McKenzie’s Great White North record. It’s a great experience and a great gift to give yourself. It’s theater of the mind. I’d rather sit home with a beer and listen to it on a record than be in a club sometimes. We were like, why not do this and give a chance to the folks who are not Hannah Einbinder and John Mulaney and Nikki Glaser? Our stock and trade at Abso Lutely Productions is finding off-the-radar comedic voices. Here’s a way to help amplify that. And it doesn’t cost as much as making a television series.
Will you be digital only?
No. Digital is so easy that obviously it’s digital first. But part of the love that I have for comedy records is the record — the artwork, the liner notes, the physical. I love going through record stores, and I think the renaissance vinyl records are having is fantastic. We want to be a part of that, and we have more options than ever because of buddies of ours who have custom vinyl pressing houses. Why not make something beautiful to begin with? Something great to listen to and also great to hold in your hands.
Listening to a great comedy album is the equivalent of hearing a great album or song. Every time you hear it after that, you’re able to say, “I was at this place, doing this, feeling this when I heard it.”
It’s a core memory. You create the picture of the bit in your mind, whether it’s Bill Cosby or Bob Newhart or Steve Martin. I have very vivid memories of the way my eight-year-old brain conceived of this joke. I still see it. You don’t get that from watching [stand-up] specials. The only restriction is — I love silent, physical comedy, but that doesn’t translate well.
You’re not going to do a Billy the Mime album.
Actually, that would be a great joke. I’d love to do that. Here’s the world’s greatest mime.
In choosing Tim Platt, who does a lot of musical comedy, for the first album, is that going to be a theme of your label?
Not necessarily, although I’m drawn to that. When Tim Platt and I started talking about us releasing his record it was a natural fit for that reason because he’s so talented musically as well.There’s something about Tim Platt that is evocative of Steve Martin early on. Martin jumped so seamlessly and deftly between bizarre, high-concept joke structures and then playing an alluring melody that turned into a joke. Tim does such a nice job of navigating between those two things that it felt like yeah, this wants to be a record. But we’re not going to be exclusive to musical comedy.
Given that an absurdist threat runs through the comedy of your partners and Tim Platt, will your label offer a lot of that?
That’s my taste and Tim Heidecker’s and Eric Wareheim’s taste — something that’s surprising and weird and fresh. That’s always been the guiding light for our company. Let’s find something we haven’t heard before. Somebody saying something in a way we haven’t seen before.
Comedy that you must hear and cannot be explained.
Without question. That’s usually, to me, the hallmark of something that’s special and good.
What terms are you negotiating with the comics who release albums on Abso Lutely? Do they keep their masters?
This is still a work in progress, but our guiding principle is — and one of the things that spurred us to do this — is that the artists should own their work. We’re not doing this as a charity. We’ll split it with them, but so many of the deals that get made these days are, hey young guy, I know you’ve been touring this hour that you’ve been working on for five years. Come here to this giant mega streamer service and here’s your little sum of money. You can brag about it and send the links to people, but there’s no long tail of revenue. It’s good advertising, but the work that you crafted for so long, kiss it goodbye. It’s heartbreak.
I was surprised to hear how little a Netflix plays for name comics to shoot specials for them.
Obviously, this is universal. The economics aren’t what they used to be. And it gets to a point where, especially if you’re younger or not a mainstream comic, where the upside is not that far up anymore. So, why not go craft the record with the artwork that you want, with the sound that you want, with the material that you want and get it out to an audience and directly participate from dollar one in the benefit of this thing?
We’re doing the same thing with shooting specials here. We’ve done it under a partnership with [Upright Citizens Brigade]. We’re like, “We can make good specials without them costing a million dollars. And the focus is artist-first. Let’s do it for a lower budget and share the control and ownership directly with the artist in a more substantive and genuine way. We’ll make a record of it. We’ll get it on SiriusXM, we’ll create merch.” Being able to provide multiple streams of revenue to these comics is something that we can do now. This technology didn’t exist for us 20 years ago, but this is something that we can do now and we can do it damn near as good as anyone else.
Who’s going to distribute your records?
We’ve talked to a few people. Right now, we’re doing it ourselves, but when we’re up on our feet a little bit more we’ll extend the conversation and try to find a partner.
Social media has become an important tool for comics to grow fan bases. What is more important today – touring as a standup comedian or social media?
I think they have to go hand-in-hand now. You have to learn to use them together. But I also know comedians who choose to ignore social media because they don’t want to burn good material. Everybody is going to see it, and then they come to the club with preconceived notions, and you have to do that bit again. It’s a double-edged sword.
Can you reveal any future releases?
We have a couple more. I can’t give you any details because we haven’t closed the paperwork, but they’re great, weird comedians who I love and who are familiar in the comedy world. Those and at least one more this year or early next year. Then next year I would like to do a full slate — our anticipation is that we would like to do half a dozen at least a year.
Will there be a video component to the Tim Platt record?
Not from Abso Lutely. He filmed the show that as part of the recording at Union Hall that we are releasing, but this is only a record release for us. That said, many of the upcoming projects we have there will be a dual component, where we will make a special and we will do the record version of that special as a tandem piece for that project.
What are the biggest challenges or headwinds that the comedy business is facing in the coming five years?
In the current media landscape — film, television and records — there is not so much of that middle level of tastemaker on the buyer side that there used to be. People with enough rope to hang themselves creatively to say, “I’m willing to try this. This might not be for me but there’s something in it. Let’s make a pilot.” Or, “I’m not sure what this is but let’s check it out. Let’s do a season of this show because that’s how it finds its legs.” That process is going extinct in a lot of ways — and it’s the biggest challenge that I face, as someone whose job it is to try to get an idea, a comedy bit or a joke or a piece of talent in front of a buyer.
It’s so interesting because there are more and more streaming platforms that need content. Is it just a fear of risk?
Yeah, to a large extent it is risk aversion, because the competition is so fierce. You don’t want to be out there taking funky swings at crazy little projects while your competitor over here is making huge big-name projects — big bankable IP. If you fail in your endeavor, then lights out. Which is unfortunate, because with comedy, the best s–t is made when people are like, “I don’t know what this is but let’s try it.”
That’s what Mike Lazzo — who we owe so much of our professional success to — was great at: taking risks. He was the head of Adult Swim, and a lot of that [programming] was born from, “Well, let’s give it a shot. Let’s build a boat as we’re sailing it.” It sounds like bad business advice, but it’s good for comedy.
Kali Uchis scores her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Jan. 27), as Orquídeas arrives atop the list with her biggest sales week ever – 31,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 18, according to Luminate. Of that sum, vinyl sales accounted for 20,000 – marking the largest week for a Spanish-language album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The effort also launches at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums ranking, No. 1 on Top Latin Albums (her first leader there) and starts at a career-high No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
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Elsewhere in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Jimin’s former No. 1 FACE re-enters at No. 4 following its vinyl release and Kid Cudi’s new album Insano starts at No. 5.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. All of Billboard’s new Jan. 27, 2024-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 23. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of the 31,000 copies sold of Orquídeas, physical sales comprise 30,000 (20,000 on vinyl, 10,000 on CD and negligible sum on cassette) and digital download album sales comprise 1,000. Its sales were bolstered by its availability across seven vinyl variants and four CD editions, including exclusive versions sold through independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and the artist’s webstore.
Six Taylor Swift albums populate the top 10, all former No. 1s, led by Folklore, which pushes 3-2 with 19,000 (up 92%, owed to a replenishment of CD stock at retail). 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falls 1-3 (13,000; down 20%), Midnights dips 2-6 (8,000; down 29%), Lover descends 5-8 (7,000; down 28%), Evermore falls 7-9 (6,000; down 8%) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) drops 6-10 (5,000; down 25%).
Jimin’s FACE re-enters at No. 4 with nearly 10,000 sold (up 3,501%) following the set’s release on vinyl. It sold 8,000 copies on vinyl in the week ending Jan. 18, and enters at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart. FACE was issued in only one vinyl edition, and included a photo book, postcard and photocard inside its packaging.
Kid Cudi scores his sixth top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales, as his latest studio album Insano starts at No. 5 with 8,500 sold. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 7,000 (about 5,500 on vinyl and 1,500 on CD) and digital downloads comprise 1,500. The album’s sales were enhanced by its availability across four vinyl variants and four CD editions.
Stray Kids’ chart-topping ROCK-STAR falls 4-7 on Top Album Sales, with nearly 8,000 sold (down 19%).
In the week ending Jan. 18, there were 1.083 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 9.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 822,000 (down 12.1%) and digital albums comprised 261,000 (down 0.6%).
There were 370,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Jan. 18 (down 15.7 week-over-week) and 449,000 vinyl albums sold (down 8.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 1.316 (down 27.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 1.566 million (down 45.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 3.694 million (down 35.5% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 2.895 million (down 38.8%) and digital album sales total 799,000 (down 19.5%).
In September, the singer-songwriter Zach Bryan scored his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. He chose not to put out any singles to hype up Zach Bryan in the weeks leading up to its release. “We decided we weren’t dropping any singles for this album because it’s a cohesive project, and that’s the way it needs to be viewed,” says Stefan Max, Bryan’s co-manager and a former major-label A&R executive.
Bryan scored a Billboard Hot 100 hit anyway — “I Remember Everything,” his collaboration with Kacey Musgraves, debuted at No. 1 — but that was just the cherry on top of a winning rollout. “I don’t know how many albums I’ve made at major labels over the last 15 years that have gone on to be incredible, but the label would delay its release because they’re like, ‘We need a big single,’ ” Max explains. “Everything was so singles-driven. Now we’re like, ‘Do we have a good album?’ Then we can build our campaign around that.”
For much of the 21st century, the music industry narrative has been that the album is dying. First came the MP3, which allowed fans to cherry-pick their favorite songs to download. Then came the rise of streaming services, which meant that fans didn’t even have to download music to assemble their personal playlists. They were followed by TikTok, which can transform scraps of songs into hits before they are even finished — rendering a whole three-minute track superfluous and making an album feel like an unnecessary extravagance.
Looking around the pop music landscape today, though, it’s hard to find an artist who is having sustained impact solely on the strength of hit singles. Bryan, Rod Wave, Taylor Swift and Peso Pluma have all commanded attention and chart achievements by releasing albums that listeners engage with from start to finish and return to week after week.
“Albums feel really significant right now,” one senior label executive says. “It’s what a lot of people talk about. It’s what is really driving a lot of discovery.”
In truth, the demise-of-albums lament was probably exaggerated in the first place. That conversation “was always overdone,” says Jeff Vaughn, founder and CEO of Signal Records. “The album represents a definitive artistic statement, and I think fans crave it.”
“We are in an era where individual pieces of music get exposed more readily and more easily than an entire body of work, which speaks to why people think of this as a singles era,” adds Jonathan Tanners, who manages production duo Take a Daytrip and rapper TOBi, among others. Despite that perception, Tanners continues, “We, as an audience, still have a deep reverence for boldness of vision. If you are reaching the [Mount] Rushmore of artistic and commercial heights, you’re making great albums.”
Still, few would deny that the industry was extraordinarily singles-minded in the early years of TikTok, which really took hold in 2019 and 2020. Executives now speak about that era as if emerging from a long hangover. “The period we just went through created a bit of an emptiness that allowed fewer true artists to be seen because labels were following the viral hits,” says Scott Cutler, a songwriter and CEO of Pulse Music Group, which operates a publishing company as well as a recently launched label operation. “Kids burn through those viral songs really fast.”
Signing the artists behind a lot of those viral tracks was not a successful long-term business proposition for many labels. “If somebody’s playing basketball and they make an incredible half-court shot, an NBA scout’s not like, ‘You’re the next LeBron James!’ ” says Jeremy Maciak, a manager and former major-label A&R executive. “That’s what was happening.” Few of the artists who got deals from viral singles were able to repeat the feat.
Backlash to viral-single fever isn’t the only factor boosting the album’s status. The return of the vinyl LP as a commercial tool is also helping. Vinyl sales have grown steadily for 17 years, but jumped by a stunning 46% in 2020 and 51% in 2021, according to Luminate. The increased prevalence of vinyl records can’t help but reinforce the idea that an entire collection of songs represents something significant and worth shelling out $20 to $30.
Luminate determined that 50% of LP buyers don’t have a turntable, which underlines this point even further. They see value in owning an album they can’t even play. Travis Scott’s Utopia is one of the year’s top sellers, boosted by more than 340,000 album sales, without an enduring hit single. Lana Del Rey hasn’t had a top 40 hit as an unaccompanied solo artist in nearly a decade, but she has sold over 500,000 vinyl LPs and more than 145,000 CDs this year.
Vinyl releases aren’t necessary to build an audience devoted to albums, though. Rising rapper Yeat has amassed more than 1.8 billion streams this year, according to Luminate; he doesn’t have a single top 40 hit as a soloist, yet his fans press play on his releases and just keep listening.
Another artist with an impressively dedicated following among music streamers is the rapper Rod Wave, who recently eked out a narrow victory over Doja Cat to spend a second week atop the Billboard 200 with Nostalgia — his third straight No. 1 album. That week, Rod Wave’s biggest single was at No. 33 on the Hot 100, while Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” was No. 1, demonstrating that a big hit may not be enough to send an album to the top.
In this environment, a new term is becoming more and more popular: “world-building,” industry jargon meaning that, for an artist to be successful, listeners need to care about something beyond a 15-second snippet of music on social media. “I don’t think the difference is between people who make albums and people who make singles,” Tanners says. “The difference is between people who have the vision to create unified worlds and people who are either not interested in that or not capable of that.”
“People want to invest in artists who are building their own worlds,” says Ashley Calhoun, president of Pulse Music Group. “There is a real appetite for that coming back around.”
And albums are more conducive to that world-building process, Vaughn notes. “It’s very difficult to do that just around a single,” he says. “Around a more complete artistic statement, all of a sudden the cover art is special, there are experiential events you can do, there are partnerships with brands. You can actually telegraph: ‘This is coming, here’s why it’s important,’ and that’s how you take the next step.”
It’s not lost on music executives how old-fashioned this sounds. Much of the industry bent itself out of shape trying to get singles to pop on TikTok because it seemed like a cheat code — overnight virality as a substitute for the yearslong, painstaking work of building a fan base. But after all those contortions, many of the same old principles still apply.
“Great artists always move albums and move tickets,” Vaughn says. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
D. Tobago Benito started his first brick-and-mortar record store in Atlanta in 1996. At the time, “there were about 400 to 500 Black-owned record stores around the country,” he recalls. “There were a lot of conferences. When I came in, senior store owners took me under their wing and showed me how the business operated.”
Benito’s still in physical retail 27 years later, running DBS Sounds. But the pool of Black-owned record stores has been decimated, falling to around 70, according to his count. (Some think it’s closer to 60.) Depending who you ask, there are between 1,800 and 2,100 independent record stores in the U.S., which means that Black-owned outlets now represent just a sliver of this market.
The decline is at odds with the popularity of Black music. R&B and hip-hop’s share of overall consumption was 26.8% in 2022, according to Luminate. While R&B and hip-hop doesn’t fare as well in the physical market, it still accounted for 14.3% of physical sales last year. Yet “we make up about 3% of the record stores out there,” Benito says. “It’s unacceptable. There are major markets around the country with no Black-owned stores: Birmingham, Nashville, Charlotte.”
“The numbers are astounding,” adds Sharod Bines, owner of Retrofit Records in Tallahassee, Florida. “A generation ago, it was not as uncommon to be a Black record store owner.”
While vinyl sales have been growing for 17 consecutive years, this rising tide hasn’t yet led to a major lift in the number of Black store owners. Benito is spearheading an effort he hopes will change that: In 2021, he joined with more than 20 other Black-owned stores to create the F.A.M.S. Coalition (Forever a Music Store). Some of the hurdles facing Black record stores are systemic — the racial wealth gap, gentrification, bias in the loan-application process. But for outlets that have overcome these obstacles, F.A.M.S. is intent on gaining more support from the music industry. This could be financial assistance as well as windowed exclusives, vinyl variants and release parties pegged to notable albums that might boost the presence of coalition members.
“We need people like Tobago to push to say, ‘we’re here, we’re growing, and we need equality,’” says Drew Mitchell, owner of 606 Records in Chicago. “We need to make sure there is equal opportunity for minority-owned stores — in the music business and in any business.”
In the early ’90s, “Black independent stores were really thriving, and they were an important part of the ecosystem when it came to breaking records,” adds Steve Corbin, Warner Music Group’s senior vice president of sales, counsel and culture. “We are in discussions with [F.A.M.S.] and working with them, whether it’s mentoring store owners or figuring out other ways to get involved with the community.”
One of the coalition’s biggest wins to date came when Beyoncé released the vinyl version of Renaissance in October 2022; F.AM.S. stores were given the chance to sell the LP a week before their peers. At the time, the coalition contained 26 stores — it’s now at 22 — which sold more than 1,000 copies of Renaissance combined. “That was huge for us,” says Marketta Rodriguez, a F.A.M.S. member from Houston who runs Serious Sounds. The first week of June, F.A.M.S. stores were able to boost their profile by hosting listening parties for Janelle Monae’s The Age of Pleasure three days before the album hit streaming services.
Some Black-owned stores serve up all styles of music — “I cover as many bases as possible,” Bines says — while others focus on historically Black genres. The latter camp faces a challenge as it tries to stabilize and ultimately grow. “There is a lack of new releases and catalog that are not available physically in rap and R&B,” explains Steve Harkins, vp of sales and marketing at Ingram Entertainment, the distributor that has been working closely with F.A.M.S. “It’s getting better with new releases, but these stores need more product in the marketplace. And this is also product that would benefit other independent stores as well.”
D. Tobago Benito
Raphael Simien
Rap was quick to embrace the digital economy — first through free download sites like Datpiff, which hosted copious amounts of mixtapes, and then through streaming, where hip-hop soared. But perhaps as a result of this success, the genre hasn’t paid much attention to the old-fashioned physical market. Harkins notes that “labels have said they’ve had challenges convincing artists and management to release their titles physically in some cases.”
While Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar have both sold heaps of vinyl, many major rappers still don’t release actual LPs. Often they would “rather put their money into music videos and digital marketing,” says Nima Nasseri, who manages the producer Hit-Boy. And vinyl still requires long lead times — it could be three to four months — which is a drawback in a genre that has thrived thanks in part to its relentless release pace. “By the time that a project is out, the majority of these artists are already working on the next project; they’re just over it,” says Aaron “Ace” Christian, who manages the rapper Cordae.
But around half of vinyl buyers don’t even own a turntable, according to Luminate, suggesting that fans want to support artists they favor through physical purchases even in cases when they can’t actually play the record they buy. And “especially when it comes to recouping, vinyl can put a huge dent in whatever you’re owing to these labels,” says Justin Lehmann, founder of Mischief Management. “It’s a missed opportunity for other artists if they’re not taking advantage of that,” he adds.
Lehmann has worked with his client Aminé to put out a vinyl version of every one of the rapper’s albums. Same goes for Cordae. “We sold out everything,” Christian says of his client’s LPs. “Fans like the memorabilia aspect of it.” “The popularity [of vinyl releases] is rising,” Nasseri adds. “Doing 1,000 copies for the diehard fans is a smart move.”
On the catalog front, some Black record store owners also worry about the “big void for ’90s R&B and hip-hop,” says Phillip Rollins, owner of Offbeat in Jackson, Mississippi. Labels are “re-pressing everything else, like 1,000 Grateful Dead live box sets,” he continues. “Where’s SWV and early Usher?” “It’s starting to look really weird when you can re-press 30 Rolling Stones records but not a core R&B title from the ’70s,” Rodriguez agrees.
Joe Lyle, owner of No Pulp Records in New Orleans, says F.A.M.S. has been working to make the labels aware of the demand for some of this classic material. Benito is starting to see some progress, pointing to represses of LPs from Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and Kingpin Skinny Pimp. In addition, Harkins helped secure a commitment from the manufacturer GZ North America to set aside capacity for both new hip-hop and R&B titles and represses.
There’s more to come: At the Music Biz conference in Nashville in May, members of F.A.M.S. met with Corbin to talk about the need for additional catalog releases. “What we agreed to is having them be somewhat of a curator — ‘we really think this Anita Baker record would be worth bringing out and repressing on vinyl,’” Corbin says. “Rather than us dictating and saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna re-release these classic R&B records,’ we’re making it a collaborative effort,” and taking cues from the store-owners who are in touch with record buyers on the ground.
Benito’s dream is to grow the Black-owned sector of independent record stores to more than 5% of the total over the next five years. But for some owners, even just forming the coalition represents a victory. “We’re a minority within the minority of record store owners — it can feel like you’re kind of on an island out here,” Bines says. “It’s been nice to see there’s others out there trying to sustain the same thing that I am.”
Agust D (an alias of BTS’ Suga) sees his solo debut studio effort D-Day bow at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 6), selling 122,000 copies in the United States in the week ending April 27, according to Luminate. That marks the fourth-largest sales week for an album in 2023.
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D-Day is the first leader for Agust D, and he’s the second member of BTS to achieve a No. 1 on Top Album Sales. He follows Jimin, who bowed at No. 1 earlier this year with FACE (April 8-dated chart). BTS itself has notched six No. 1s on Top Albums Sales, most recently with the retrospective collection Proof in 2022.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of D-Day was issued in collectible CD packages (seven total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore) each containing a standard set of items and randomized elements (in this case, photo cards). It was also available as a standard digital download album, as well as three alternative cover digital download variants that were sold exclusively through the artist’s official webstore. Of D-Day’s first-week sales, 90% were CDs, while the remaining 10% were digital album downloads. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Taylor Swift’s Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl release Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions launches at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 75,000 sold – all from sales of its vinyl LP. It’s the single-largest sales week for an album on vinyl in 2023. It’s the 15th top 10 for Swift on Top Album Sales.
The live acoustic album, which was previously available only as bonus tracks on a deluxe digital and streaming edition of her Folklore studio album (released in 2020), was issued on vinyl LP (its first physical release of any kind) for Record Store Day (RSD) (April 22) at participating independent record stores. It was previously announced that Long Pond’s production run for Record Store Day would be 75,000 copies in the United States, and the set sold out instantly. It’s typical for many albums and singles to garner unique and limited edition runs exclusively for the annual independent record store day celebration.
Typically, high-profile Record Store Day-exclusive titles might have a production run of 10,000-to-20,000 in the United States. For Record Store Day 2022, there were 10 titles that had pressings ranging from 10,000 to 18,000, but nothing larger. For Record Store Day 2023, Swift’s Long Pond title had by far the largest production run of any RSD title. Pearl Jam’s live concert album Give Way had the second-biggest production run, with 15,500 vinyl LPs pressed.
Metallica’s former leader 72 Seasons falls 1-3 in its second week on Top Album Sales with 25,000 sold (down 81%).
Pearl Jam’s Give Way starts at No. 4 with 22,000 copies sold – representing vinyl, CD and digital download sales combined. The set made its retail debut on both vinyl LP (one set available at indie retailers and one sold through the band’s fan club) and CD (exclusive to indie stores), as well as a digital download. The album was recorded in 1998 during the group’s Yield Tour. Give Way is the 17th top 10 effort on Top Album Sales for Pearl Jam.
Swift has a second title in the top 10, as her chart-topping Midnights dips 4-5 with a little over 15,000 sold (up 20%). Melanie Martinez’s former No. 1 Portals falls 3-6 with 14,000 (up 5%), Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. is a non-mover at No. 7 with 11,000 sold (up 25%) and Boygenius’ The Record climbs 13-8 with 10,000 (up 47%).
Coming in at No. 9 is a re-entry from The Cure with its live album Show, and Stevie Nicks debuts at No. 10 with Bella Donna: Live 1981.
Show’s sales (just over 10,000) are driven almost entirely from a new picture disc vinyl release of the album for Record Store Day. The set was originally released widely in 1993 and initially peaked at No. 42. Show was recorded during The Cure’s 1992 Wish album tour.
For Nicks, Bella Donna: Live 1981 made its debut as stand-alone album for Record Store Day, and only on vinyl. It sold 10,000 copies. Its tracks were originally commercially released on an album as part of a deluxe edition of Nicks’ 1981 studio album Bella Donna, released in 2016. The Bella Donna: Live 1981 album was recorded during Nicks’ White Winged Dove Tour on Dec. 13, 1981.
In the week ending April 27, there were 2.927 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 44.4% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.583 million (up 54.3%) and digital albums comprised 339,000 (down 2.8%).
There were 760,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 27 (up 9.6% week-over-week) and 1.809 vinyl albums sold (up 87.5%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 11.224 million (up 4.9% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 16.296 million (up 28.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 33.707 million (up 10.9% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 27.699 million (up 17.8%) and digital album sales total 6.009 million (down 12.5%).
Record Store Day once again spurred big sales of music on vinyl and at independent record stores in the United States, according to data tracking firm Luminate – resulting in some eye-popping numbers.
This year’s edition of the indie record store celebration, held on April 22, helped sell 1.809 million vinyl albums in total across all retailers and sellers (not just indie stores) in the U.S. in the week ending April 27, according to Luminate. That sum marks a record number of vinyl albums sold in a Record Store Day (RSD) week (including Black Friday-related RSD celebrations), and the fourth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991.
RSD 2023 also drove a modern-era record of 1.426 million vinyl albums sold in the U.S. at independent record stores April 21-27. That is the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector in Luminate history, since the company began tracking sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, with 1.012 million sold in the week ending April 28, 2022 (during RSD 2022). (Vinyl was so big at indies – 79% of all vinyl albums sold that week, industry-wide, were sold through indie record stores.)
Further, independent record stores sold 1.673 million albums in total across all formats (vinyl, CD, cassette, etc.) in the week ending April 27 – marking the biggest album sales week at indie stores since at least before January 2008, when Luminate began archiving data specific to this sector. Fifty-seven percent of all albums sold in the U.S. (across all formats, both physical and digital) in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores.
Traditionally, Record Store Day is held on one Saturday in the springtime, when hundreds of albums (and many singles) are released specifically for the event, and available only at participating independent record stores. (In 2020 and 2021, RSD celebrations were heavily altered and spread across multiple events [dubbed “Drops”] due to COVID-19, while the event was mostly back to its pre-pandemic self for the 2022 edition, and it was business as usual for the 2023 installment.)
Among the unique titles that hit shelves for Record Store Day 2023: the vinyl debut of Taylor Swift’s acoustic live set Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (pressed on grey-colored double vinyl, in a massive 75,000-production run in the U.S. – an unusually high quantity for a RSD title), the vinyl and CD debut of Pearl Jam’s 1998 concert recording Give Way, the vinyl premiere of Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna: Live 1981 concert recording, Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes: B-Sides on vinyl and a reissue of The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet on grey, blue, black and white swirl-colored vinyl. All five releases are among the top-selling RSD-exclusive titles for the week (see lists, below).
The husband-and-wife team of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires (Record Store Day Ambassadors for 2023) gifted RSD with two releases: a four-track EP from the duo (The Sound Emporium EP) and a four-track EP from Shires (Live at Columbia Studio A) that includes a guest appearance from Isbell.
Here are some facts on Record Store Day 2023’s impact, plus a look at the top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive albums and singles:
(All data is according to Luminate, for the week ending April 27, 2023, in the U.S, unless otherwise indicated. Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. References to the Luminate era mean from 1991-onwards.)
Industry-wide total album sales in U.S. across all formats (physical [including CD, vinyl, cassettes, etc.] and digital downloads): 2.923 million – up 44.4% compared to the previous week (2.02 million). It’s the largest album sales week in 2023.
The last larger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 3.897 million albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanksgiving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending April 26, 2018, during RSD 2018, when 3.267 million albums were sold.)
Industry-wide total physical album sales in U.S. (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.): 2.583 million – up 54.3% compared to the previous week (1.675 million). It’s the largest sales week for physical album sales in 2023.
The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 3.526 million physical albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanksgiving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending Feb. 18, 2016, when 2.710 million physical albums were sold.)
Industry-wide CD album sales in U.S.: 760,000 – up 9.6% compared to the previous week (693,000).
Industry-wide vinyl album sales in U.S.: 1.809 million – up 878.5% compared to the previous week (965,000).
That 1.809 million sum translates to a record number of vinyl albums sold in any Record Store Day-related week (including Black Friday-related RSD festivities) and the fourth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991. It’s also the biggest week outside of the holiday shopping season for vinyl album sales, in the Luminate era.
The largest week for vinyl album sales in the Luminate era occurred in the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 2.232 million vinyl albums were sold. The Nos. 2-5 largest weeks are: week ending Dec. 23, 2021 (2.115 million); Dec. 24, 2020 (1.842 million); April 27, 2023 (1.809 million; includes RSD 2023) and Dec. 29, 2022 (1.57 million).
62% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums (1.809 million of 2.922 million). For context, year-to-date, vinyl albums comprise 48% of all album sales (16.296 million of 33.707 million).
70% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums (1.809 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, vinyl albums represent 59% of all physical album sales (16.296 million of 27.699 million).
Independent store album sales in U.S.: 1.673 million – up 112% compared to the previous week (789,000). That marks the biggest album sales week at indie stores since at least before January 2008, when Luminate began archiving data specific to this sector.
Independent store CD album sales in U.S.: 238,000 – up 11% compared to the previous week (216,000). It’s the largest sales week for CD album sales at indie stores in 2023. The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 268,000 CD albums were sold at indies. (Outside of the holiday shopping season, the last bigger week for CD album sales at indies was in the frame ending March 12, 2020, when 239,000 CD albums were sold in the indie sector.)
Independent store vinyl album sales in U.S.: 1.426 million – up 152% compared to the previous week (566,000). That marks the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, with 1.012 sold in the week ending April 28, 2022 (during the week of Record Store Day 2022).
57% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.672 million of 2.922 million). For context, year-to-date, indie store album sales comprise 37% of all album sales (12.459 million of 33.707 million).
65% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.672 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, 45% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. were sold via indie stores (12.459 million of 27.699 million).
79% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 1.809 million). Year-to-date, 57% of all vinyl albums were sold via indie record stores (9.317 million of 16.296 million).
49% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 2.922 million). Year-to-date, 28% of all albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums via indie record stores (9.317 million of 33.707 million).
55% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, 34% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums sold via indie record stores (9.317 million of 27.699 million).
57% of vinyl albums sold via independent record stores in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were of the rock genre (814,723 of 1.426 million). Fifty-six percent of all vinyl albums sold industry wide in the U.S. were rock titles (1,013,297 of 1,809,301 million). Year-to-date, the rock genre comprises 57% of vinyl albums sold through indie record stores (5,353,048 million of 9.317 million). While rock holds 54% of all vinyl albums sold industry wide (8.722 million of 16.296 million).
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2023 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title
1. Taylor Swift, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (grey colored double vinyl)2. Pearl Jam, Give Way (double vinyl)3 (TIE). The Cure, Show (double vinyl picture disc)3 (TIE). Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna: Live 1981 (double vinyl)5 (TIE). Grateful Dead, Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5.7.77 (five vinyl LP box set)5 (TIE). The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet (swirl-colored vinyl)7. Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes: B-Sides (vinyl)8. Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires, The Sound Emporium EP (vinyl)9. Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival, You (gold-colored 10-inch vinyl)10. The Ramones, Pleasant Dreams (vinyl)11. Beach House, Become (crystal clear-colored vinyl)12. Billy Joel, Live at the Great American Music Hall, 1975 (double vinyl)13. The Allman Brothers Band, Syria Mosque Pittsburgh, PA January 17, 1971 (steel grey-colored double vinyl)14. Van Halen, Live: Right Here, Right Now (four vinyl LP set)15. Jerry Garcia Band, How Sweet It Is… (double vinyl)16. Madonna, American Life: Mixshow Mix (Honoring Peter Rauhofer) (180 gram vinyl)17. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Return to the 36 Chambers (double vinyl picture disc)18. Miles Davis, Turnaround: Rare Miles From the Complete On the Corner Sessions (sky blue-colored vinyl)19. Dolly Parton, The Monument Singles Collection: 1964-1968 (vinyl)20. Chet Baker, Chet (180 gram vinyl)21 (TIE). The Black Keys, Live at Beachland Tavern March 31, 2002 (tangerine-colored vinyl)22 (TIE). Paul McCartney and Wings, Red Rose Speedway (half-speed vinyl)23. Blur, Blur Present the Special Collectors Edition (colored double vinyl)24. Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club (Expanded Edition) (double vinyl)25 (TIE). Sisters of Mercy, The Reptile House E.P. (smoky-colored vinyl)25 (TIE). Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: Hotel Jolie Dame (psych-sunset orange marble-colored vinyl)25 (TIE). Wilco, Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (vinyl)
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2023 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute / The Widow (12-inch vinyl)2. U2, Two Hearts Beat as One / Sunday Bloody Sunday (180-gram 12-inch white-colored vinyl)3. Motley Crue, Helter Skelter (12-inch picture disc vinyl)4. Post Malone, Waiting for Never / Hateful (12-inch translucent red-colored vinyl)5. Fleetwood Mac, Albatross / Jigsaw Puzzle Blues (12-inch vinyl)6. Bjork, The Fossora Remixes (12-inch vinyl)7 (TIE). Maya Hawke, To Love a Boy / Stay Open (7-inch vinyl)7 (TIE). Sam Smith & Kim Petras, Unholy (colored 7-inch vinyl)9. The Doors, Break on Through (3-inch vinyl)10. The Doors, Love Her Madly (3-inch vinyl)
Source: Luminate, for the week ending April 27, 2023
TWICE claim their third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated March 25) as Ready to Be: 12th Mini Album debuts atop the list with the act’s best sales week ever. The nine-member South Korean pop act previously led the list with Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album (2022) and Taste of Love: The 10th Mini Album (2021).
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Ready to Be launches with 145,500 copies sold in the United States in the week ending March 16, according to Luminate. That sum also marks the second-largest sales week of 2023 for any act, following the debut week of TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (153,000; chart dated Feb. 11).
Ready to Be also logs a big week in vinyl album sales (nearly 18,000) – the largest for any all-female group since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991.
Also in the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart, Miley Cyrus achieves her biggest sales week in nearly a decade – and 14th top 10 – as Endless Summer Vacation enters at No. 2 with 55,000 copies sold. Endless also collects Cyrus’ biggest ever sales week on vinyl. Plus, rock band Periphery nets its third top 10 – all consecutive – as Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre debuts at No. 10.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Ready to Be’s 145,500 copies sold, physical sales comprise 143,000 (125,000 on CD and nearly 18,000 on vinyl) and digital downloads comprise 2,500.
Like many K-pop releases, Ready to Be was issued in collectible physical format packages (11 different CDs [including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target and the group’s official webstore] and two vinyl LPs [one exclusive to Target and one exclusive to the act’s webstore). CD variants of Ready contain a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as a postcards, photo cards, etc.).
Unusually, Ready to Be had a vinyl version of the album available on the same wide release date as the CD edition of the album, as most major K-pop titles in the past were initially available only as a physical album on CD and on no other physical formats (like vinyl or cassette). The vinyl editions of the album did not include randomized items, but were packaged with a lenticular postcard, poster and slipmat. Target’s exclusive LP is marbled orchid-colored, while the act’s webstore exclusive is an ultra-clear vinyl edition.
Ready to Be’s nearly 18,000 vinyl sales marks the largest week for a vinyl album by a female group since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991. It’s also the second-largest sales week on vinyl for any K-pop album, following the debut week of BTS’ Love Yourself: Her earlier in 2023 (18,000; chart dated Jan. 21). Unlike Ready to Be, the Love Yourself: Her vinyl LP arrived to market more than five years after the album’s original release on CD and digital download in 2017.
Beyond the physical editions of the album, TWICE’s U.S. webstore also issued four alternative digital album downloads of Ready to Be – each with a different cover, digital replicas of individual group members’ signatures, and a bonus track (a voice memo from different group members).
Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with her biggest sales week in nearly a decade, as it bows with 55,000 copies sold. Cyrus last had a larger sales week when Bangerz sold a little more than 63,000 during Christmas week of 2013 (reflected on the Top Album Sales chart dated Jan. 11, 2014). Bangerz earlier debuted at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with 270,500 copies sold (Oct. 26, 2013 chart).
Of Endless Summer Vacation’s 55,000 copies sold, physical sales comprise 37,500 (12,500 on CD and 25,000 on vinyl) and digital downloads comprise 17,500. Endless logs Cyrus’ largest sales week for a vinyl album since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. On the Vinyl Albums chart, Endless debuts at No. 1 – her second leader on the list following Plastic Hearts in 2021.
Endless was released in four vinyl variants: standard black vinyl, a white-colored edition exclusive to Target and two color editions exclusive to Cyrus’ webstore (red and silver). All vinyl LPs came packaged with a poster.
CD sales were also aided by two deluxe boxed sets (one with a puzzle and a CD, the other with a beach towel and a CD) sold exclusively through her webstore.
Endless is Cyrus’ 14th top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales, including those albums credited to her Disney Channel character Hannah Montana.
A trio of former No. 1s is next on Top Album Sales: Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (1-3 in its second week with 21,000; down 81%), TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (6-4 with 11,000; up 5%) and Taylor Swift’s Midnights (7-5 with 10,000; up 3%).
NCT 127’s Ay-Yo: The 4th Album Repackage falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales (9,500; down 67%), P!nk’s former leader Trustfall rises 9-7 (8,500; down 5%), Gorillaz’s chart-topping Cracker Island is a non-mover at No. 8 (6,000; down 37%) and Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT climbs 13-9 (6,000; up 17%).
Closing out the top 10 is rock band Periphery, which scores its third top 10 – all consecutive – as Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre debuts at No. 10 with nearly 6,000 sold. 55% of the sales came from the vinyl edition of the set.
In the week ending March 16, there were 1.961 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 0.9% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.605 million (up 5.3%) and digital albums comprised 355,000 (down 21.9%).
There were 733,000 CD albums sold in the week ending March 16 (up 10% week-over-week) and 862,000 vinyl albums sold (up 1.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 6.925 million (up 2.5% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 9.678 million (up 25.4%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 20.609 million (up 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 16.705 million (up 14.7%) and digital album sales total 3.904 million (down 13%).
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Let’s get organized! Vinyl record sales spiked after the pandemic started and managed to top CD sales for the first time in decades. Three years later, and despite slowing sales, vinyl records are still popular among music fans (Taylor Swift’s Midnights was the best-selling vinyl of 2022). With that in mind, we curated a list of storage options that will keep your favorite vinyls, CDs and even cassette tapes in one place.
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Whether you’re a casual collector or have simply accumulated too many records and CDs over the years, we’re here to help! Below, find a list of media storage options that are perfectly designed for your music collection. For more shopping recommendations, be sure to read our roundups of the best vinyl record players and turntables, and tips on how to clean your vinyl records.
Amazon
Snap-N-Store Vinyl Record Storage Box – Pack of 1 – 13.2 x 12.625 x 12.5 Inch LP Holder with Lid for 12-inch Records
$29.71
Provided that you don’t have a huge collection, the Snap-N-Store Vinyl Record Storage Box is a simple but stylish way to store your vinyl records. This 12-inch box comes in multiple colors and holds up to 75 vinyls. You can also use it to store CDs and music memorabilia, but for something sturdier, try out a crate like this bamboo vinyl crate from Sound Stash($44.99), or Victrola’s Woden Record Crate ($59.99).
Victrola
Victrola Wooden Record Stand
$69.99
An eye-catching edition to any collector’s home, this vintage record stand offers a convenient and cool way to store over 40 of your favorite records.
Wayfair
Rolling Vinyl Multimedia Shelves
$79.99
Need something that moves around? The rolling vinyl record shelf is scratch-resistant and water resistant and can be used as a record table or a side table.
Walmart
Evelot LP Vinyl Records Storage Bag, 6-Pack
$29.99
Keep your records dust free with these vinyl records storage bags. This set of six carrying cases can hold up to 216 records at a time (each bag holds up to 36 records).
Amazon
STORi Stackable Clear Plastic CD Organizer
$16.99 $19.99 15% OFF
Got CDs? Try out this stackable plastic organizer. It holds up to 30 CDs and there’s rubber feet at the bottom to keep it sturdy. If you need something larger, this adjustable cabinet holds up to 261 CDs, 114 DVD and other media. Another space-saver: Odyssey’s KDC300 DIA Diamond KROM 300 CD Case ($119.95), or these mountable storage shelves ($109.14).
Best Buy
Victrola Bridge Record Stand
$39.99
If you’re looking for a tabletop option, Victrola’s bridge record stand is designed to hold up to 40 records at a time. Plus, it features a sleek, V-shaped design that’s available in espresso finish or white.
Urban Outfitters
Celestial Vinyl Record Storage Shelf
$109 $129 16% off% OFF
Feeling celestial? This metal storage shelf from Urban Outfitters is perfect for your turntable, records and other items. It features a sun and moon design motif and three shelves with metal separators at the base shelf. The metal shelf (20-inches x 11.5-inches x 26-inches) comes fully assembled and it weighs five pounds.
Wayfair
Asine Vinyl Record Stand
$217.99 $412 47% off% OFF
This shelf stand is a cool décor piece that conceals your vinyl records behind a hinged door with metal drivers to keep them upright. Available in charcoal and oak, the display stand is made from particleboard frame with walnut grain laminate and has four tapered wood legs and non-marking foam foot pads.
Since you’re already organizing your music collection, you might as well do the same for your headphones and get a stand, like the Yamazaki Round Headphone Stand ($19.95), the Suguder 4-in-1 Charging Station ($39.99), or this customizable headphone stand with charging dock ($59.95).
Wayfair
Crosley Liam Record Storage Stand
$329.99
A smaller version of a stand that you might find in a record store, this two-tier, Liam Record Storage Stand makes it easy to flip through your records while keeping the cover art center stage.
Amazon
LELELINKY Record Player Stand,Vinyl Record Storage Table with 4 Cabinet
$71.99 $86.99 17% OFF
Affordable and sturdy, the Lelelinky record player stand can hold up to 100 vinyl records and record player. It measures 13.38-inches wide x 25.98-inches tall (16.92-inches in depth) and is available in two shades of white as well as black and brown.
Home Depot
Oskar Adjustable Media Wall Unit
$84.01
This multimedia wall unit is designed to hold 756 CDs, 414 Blu-rays and 360 DVDs. The wall unit has adjustable shelves for optimal media storage capacity and an extended bases for stability. It measures 60.5-inches x 37.25-inches and it’s only 7.25-inches wide. If you have a tape collection, you might want to snag this 100 Capacity Tape Deck on Etsy.
Target
Modern Vinyl Record Player Storage TV Stand
$343.99 $429.99 20% off% OFF
Need to storage option for your TV? This storage cabinet/TV stand is made from MDF and durable laminate and features four shelves (one adjustable), a cupboard to hold all your electronics and three open storage cubbyholes (two of the cubbyholes are tall and thin making them perfect for keeping your records in place) and cord management ports to keep your cords from tangling up.
In 2020, after years of steady growth, the vinyl market exploded. Sales climbed over 46% in the United States, according to Luminate. Then, remarkably, they jumped another 51% in 2021.
But in 2022, that growth plummeted to a rate that was far more pedestrian: Luminate reported that sales were up a little more than 4%. (Pull two juggernauts — Taylor Swift‘s Midnights and Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House — out of that number, and growth was less than 1%.) Year-over-year growth also fell in the United Kingdom from 23.2% to 2.9%, according to the British Phonographic Industry.
“Some labels report sales are down,” says Nick Gordon, chief partnership officer at Symphonic Distribution. And big retailers like Walmart offered some titles at a heavily discounted price around the holiday season, stoking fears among the smaller players that those stores had overbought — maybe an indication of slackening demand.
Despite these figures, Gordon believes the vinyl market remains “healthy.” And several of his peers — from distributors to indie-label heads, chain stores to independent retailers — also seem unruffled by the slower growth. “It corrected the market,” says Todd Oenbrink, sales director for All Media Supply, a Florida-based indie wholesaler.
“It feels like a welcomed return to normalcy,” agrees Terry Cole, founder and owner of Loveland, Ohio-based store Plaid Room Records and the label Colemine Records. “It feels way healthier. This industry is not set up for rapid growth.”
And according to Russ Krupnick, managing partner of the market research company MusicWatch, “core metrics” in the vinyl market are still “showing strength.” “Our initial look at the data from 2022 is indicating that the number of vinyl buyers is still holding up,” he continues. “And in early projections, it looks like the used vinyl market is going to be up by double digits.”
During the first two years of the pandemic, demand for vinyl grew like crazy, outpacing production capacity. But retailers, distributors and manufacturers consider those two years an aberration — from 2015 to 2019, year-over-year growth ranged from around 9% to 17%.
When few music fans were going to shows due to COVID-19, “vinyl took a far greater share of music fan spending than it would otherwise take,” says Stephen Godfroy, director and co-owner of Rough Trade, which saw 30% growth in vinyl sales in 2022. “We saw exuberance for all sorts of things during the peak COVID era — vinyl, Netflix, cooking lessons, home improvement,” Krupnick notes.
Now listeners “are spending money on other things — going out drinking, going out eating, going to gigs — whereas they couldn’t do that much in lockdown,” says Peter Quicke, chair of independent label Ninja Tune. (Vinyl sales for Ninja Tune rose over 25% in 2022.) Even so, vinyl sales still grew.
With higher prices for raw materials and labor, the cost of records has also increased, another potential growth dampener. Several independent store owners expect major-label prices to increase again in 2023. “We keep hearing there are more [price hikes] to come,” says John Kunz, owner of Waterloo Records in Austin. “I wonder how that 10- or 20-something shopper is going to be able to afford that.”
Price sensitivity, especially in an uncertain macroeconomic climate, is a chief worry in the independent record store owner and label community. Already “we see customers backing away from the high prices for new releases,” says Michael Kurtz, co-founder of Record Store Day.
But at the same time, the vinyl industry’s production capacity is expected to rise in 2023. Slower growth last year “was less about people suddenly not wanting to buy as many records and more about the amount of records available to purchase,” says Cameron Schaefer, CEO of Vinyl Me, Please. (VMP sales were up 15% in 2022.) “The biggest limiter on growth is just pressing.” “We could have sold much more vinyl in 2022 if only we could have gotten hold of more supply of the right product,” Godfroy agrees.
Independent labels are still struggling with long turnaround times, executives say, which leads to missed sales for their artists — especially when an album doesn’t hit stores and streaming services at the same time. But more plants are coming online — Vinyl Me, Please expects to have its own new plant operational this year, for example — and existing facilities are adding capacity.
There are other potentially positive signs. Krupnick published a study on “the vinyl revolution” in 2022 which found that the most common barrier to buying records was “I don’t have or want to buy a turntable;” similarly, Luminate’s year-end report noted that only 50% of vinyl buyers have a record player. But “when Harry Styles came out last year, we saw a spike in turntable sales,” says Crissi Bariatti, music buyer at Barnes & Noble. “We are converting a lot of new vinyl fans” who might purchase LPs for years to come. (The chain had an “amazing December” for vinyl sales, and “January numbers are great” as well.)
Fluctuation in growth isn’t uncommon, of course. “Ebb and flow in vinyl sales over short periods” is natural, according to Scott Hagen, CEO of Victrola, a product of “what the new releases are, what the availability is in that moment in time, and what the general traffic in retail is.” (That was down in the fourth quarter of 2022.) Schaefer from Vinyl Me, Please predicts that “the next two years will give a much better preview of what to expect from the vinyl industry in the long term.”
“People got excited by high numbers in the years prior,” he continues. “If we can get to 10% a year, stay there and do that well? That’s healthy.”
Taylor Swift’s Midnights continues its hot streak atop Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as the set spends its 12th consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the list dated Jan. 21. The album sold 25,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 12 (down 58%) according to Luminate.
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Midnights now has the most weeks at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart since the Frozen soundtrack ruled for 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2014. Midnights has the most weeks in a row at No. 1 since the Titanic soundtrack logged all 16 of its No. 1 weeks consecutively in 1998.
Midnights’ total U.S. album sales now stand at 1.140 million.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
BTS’ Love Yourself: Her re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 2 following the set’s Jan. 6 release on vinyl. The effort, initially released in 2017, bounds back onto the chart with 20,000 sold (up 2,130%), with most of that sum from vinyl sales (18,000). It’s the first time BTS has released an album on vinyl in the U.S., though the group has issued singles on vinyl.
Love Yourself: Her also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart, the first time a K-pop title has led list. It also halts Swift’s stranglehold of the top spot with Midnights, pushing the album down to No. 2 after 11 straight weeks at No. 1.
Back on Top Album Sales, ATEEZ’s Spin Off: From the Witness falls one spot to No. 3 (14,000; down 66%) while French Montana’s Coke Boys 6: Gangsta Grillz, hosted by DJ Drama, debuts at No. 4 (11,000).
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours dips 4-5 (just over 7,000; down 17%), RM’s Indigo descends 3-6 (7,000; down 22%) and Michael Jackson’s Thriller falls 6-7 (nearly 7,000; down 16%). Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT re-enters the chart at No. 8 with nearly 6,000 sold (up 378%) after a new Target-exclusive CD edition of the album was released on Jan. 6.
Rounding out the top 10 are two former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (5-9 with nearly 6,000; down 32%) and Tyler, the Creator’s Igor (7-10 with 5,000; down 23%).
In the week ending Jan. 12, there were 1.837 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 13.5% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.512 million (down 14.7%) and digital albums comprised 325,000 (down 7.5%).
There were 589,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Jan. 12 (down 13.6% week-over-week) and 915,000 vinyl albums sold (down 15.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 1.27 (up 3.4% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 1.996 million (up 33.2%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 3.961 million (up 11.8% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 3.285 million (up 19.8%) and digital album sales total 676,000 (down 15.4%).