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Recorded music revenue in the United States grew 7.7% in 2023 over the prior year, reaching a high-water mark of $17.1 billion at retail, according to the RIAA. Within that headline number, $14.4 billion — or 84% — was driven by streaming, a figure that was also up 8% over 2022.
It’s the eighth straight year of revenue growth for the U.S. business, and the rounded 8% growth over last year’s $15.9 billion represents an uptick from 2022, when the business grew 6.1% over the prior year. And while the headline figure marks the third straight year that the business has set a record for revenue — previously set in 1999, when revenue hit $14.6 billion prior to Napster taking hold — when adjusted for inflation, it still falls far below that 1999 figure, which would be $26.9 billion at current rates.
Still, the U.S. business has been growing steadily over the past several years, and streaming has settled into being a fairly consistent piece of the revenue pie: This marks the fourth straight year that overall streaming accounted for between 83% and 84% of revenue, showing that streaming and the overall revenue picture are growing in lockstep. Within the streaming category, paid subscription streaming accounted for $11.2 billion, or 78% of all streaming revenue, up 9% over the $10.2 billion it accounted for last year; and the average number of full-tier U.S. subscriptions grew 5.7% to 96.8 million, up from 91.6 million last year.
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However, limited-tier subscription revenue — the bucket into which Amazon Prime, Pandora Plus, fitness services and other paid subscriptions that don’t include access to full, on-demand catalogs falls — dropped 4% to $1.0 billion. Meanwhile, ad-supported streaming service revenue grew 2%, to $1.9 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2022; and digital and customized radio revenue, which includes services like SiriusXM and SoundExchange distributions, picked up 8% year over year, to $1.3 billion. Synch revenue grew by a similar rate, up 7.4% to $411 million.
In terms of sales, digital downloads continued their slide, with revenue down 12.2% year-over-year to $434.1 million, now representing just 3% of the overall industry. On the flipside, physical sales once again surged, up 10.5% to $1.91 billion (from $1.73 billion last year). That was largely driven by vinyl sales growth, which was up 10.3% year over year to $1.35 billion in revenue — an increase from $1.22 billion in 2022, as units jumped to 43.2 million from 40.5 million. CD sales revenue also grew by double-digit percentages, increasing 11.3% to $537.1 million from a $482.6 million mark in 2022, even as the number of CDs sold fell. The format saw 37 million sales in 2023, down from 37.7 million the year prior, suggesting a rise in average price per unit year over year.
Overall, the percentage breakdown between digital revenue and physical revenue — 89% to 11% — remained essentially the same as it has since 2018, only fluctuating 1% one way or the other in the intervening years. At wholesale, overall revenue grew by 7%, up to $11 billion from last year’s $10.3 billion, marking the second straight year that metric crossed the $10 billion plateau.
At many of the more than 1,500 independent record stores in the United States, vinyl sales have been growing at a healthy clip for almost a decade — up 14.2% across all retailers in 2023 alone, according to Billboard’s data provider, Luminate. So why did Luminate track 47.3% fewer vinyl sales in January and February than it did for the same months in 2023?
On its face, such a precipitous drop might appear troubling — and puzzling — given the surge of vinyl sales since the pandemic. In actuality, the decline is mostly a result of Luminate changing the decades-old methodology it had used since Billboard adopted SoundScan’s measurement system in 1991 to count sales at indie retail outlets — a change that Luminate had warned last year would make 2024’s vinyl sales numbers appear significantly lower. But some of the drop reflects a protest by independent retailers against that adjustment, which one indie community executive worries “may put a damper on one of the industry’s high-profile, feel-good stories.”
Frustrated by the methodology change, some of these indie stores have stopped reporting sales to Luminate, and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), the Record Store Day board, the Music Business Association and other organizations have launched an alternative chart to measure physical and vinyl sales.
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“There are consequences to every decision,” Music Business Association president Portia Sabin said in a statement.
Until the end of last year, Luminate extrapolated indie retailers’ physical album sales using a methodology that weighted actual sales by a small sample of independent stores — approximately 70 accounts totaling 140 storefronts, Billboard estimates — that represented 1,500 to 2,000 retailers of their ilk that are operating in the United States, according to label and distribution sources.
Last year, physical purchases such as vinyl and CDs at these independent retailers — even with weighting — accounted for less than 3% of total music consumption units in the United States.
Indie retailers say they don’t oppose more accurate measurement of their sales. Rather, they are incensed that Luminate stopped weighting sales just months before it plans to begin the beta phase of its upgraded Connect measurement platform, which it had designed to only count actual indie physical sales. (The final version of the enhanced platform is expected to launch in 2025.) They had wanted Luminate to delay the methodology change until it onboarded hundreds more indie music retailers to report their sales.
Until the Connect beta is launched, Luminate is basing indie physical sales solely on the actual sales retailers report, which due to the protest has been cut in half to about 33 accounts with 70 storefronts, Billboard estimates.
Indie stores say they are protesting because of concerns that they — as well as the indie labels and artists who rely on them for marketing — will lose influence if their sales suddenly appear significantly lower across the board.
Indie-label executives and their distributors say they, too, are worried about the methodology change because it might affect the marketing of developing artists. “We are extremely disappointed that Luminate chose to stop weighting indie retail sales without launching a serious program to enlist store reporting and to count the physical market,” Matador Records president Patrick Amory wrote in an email. “Independent labels and independent artists over index in physical, and especially at indie retail, and we need a level playing field with the majors to measure success. Luminate is penalizing serious, career-building, album-oriented artists on the charts. Their sales are not being counted. Their market share is being allotted to the majors. That is a disaster for independent musicians, labels and retailers.”
An additional concern is that smaller sales numbers and less weight on the Billboard charts, which are based on Luminate data, will “diminish the importance of the physical market to the music business ecosystem,” as four independent record store coalitions and indie retailing giant Amoeba Music put it in a statement issued in October.
The worry is that less music will be released in physical formats, which would financially hurt indie retailers. But a record label executive says given the booming demand for vinyl — a high-margin product for labels — those fears are unwarranted. “Right now,” says one major-label executive, “with the high prices that the growing vinyl format commands, labels are printing dollars with healthy profit margin.”
Indie retailers, many of them iconic local businesses that have served their communities for decades, have panicked ahead of big changes in the past. When the major record companies decided to change the official day for new music releases from Tuesday in the U.S. to a worldwide Friday street date in 2014, “indie stores told labels, ‘You are killing us,’” recalls the major-label executive. “And yet no stores disappeared in the aftermath of that change.”
Some chart mavens say the boycott could be a risky move. By intentionally shrinking their influence on Billboard’s charts, indie stores could drive fans — who, thanks to social media, are much more attuned to the metrics that determine chart positions — to start shopping at sites or stores where they know their purchases will benefit their favorite artist.
Artists and record labels hoping to climb Billboard’s charts, meanwhile, might opt to stage meet-and-greets and other in-store promotions at businesses that report their data, though plenty of acts and record companies still host such events in stores that don’t report to Luminate.
In response to the protest, Luminate says it’s working to lure back stores that stopped reporting and onboard a critical mass of indie merchants that have not reported their data before. Stores that have stopped reporting are now permitted to bypass Luminate’s standard four-week onboarding process if they commit to reporting data for at least a year. For the latter, Luminate offers an instructional video and a written guide to the process, although indie merchants say they have pressed for personalized assistance and simplified reporting requirements.
Luminate also recently hired respected veteran music data executive Chris Muratore as its director for partnerships. Muratore worked for 18 years in various positions at Luminate’s previous iteration, Nielsen SoundScan, and more recently founded Border City Media, the startup behind music consumption data tool BuzzAngle Music (now Alpha Data, and, like Luminate, a subsidiary of Billboard’s parent company, Penske Media Corporation). He will focus on building and maintaining relationships with the independent music retail sector “to ensure physical music sale data collection is as accurate and representative as possible,” according to the release announcing his appointment.
When Billboard began tabulating charts using SoundScan data in May 1991, mass merchant sales, such as those by chain stores and, later, internet or other mail-order operations — were based on actual sales. But the data company used weighted samples of independent store sales because not all stores back then had the point-of-sale (POS) technology, nor the capability to transmit store reports. So, to compensate, stores were assigned weighting depending on how many other non-reporting stores were in their DMA, or designated market area. But over the years, that process became more difficult, and less scientific, as thousands of stores closed, sources say.
Using data from a confidential Luminate report shown to labels, Billboard estimates that last year, the data platform counted each album scanned by 140 indie retailers as 8.54 physical albums. Based on that extrapolation, Luminate reported that an average of close to 72,000 physical album copies — vinyl and CDs — sold each week, totaling 31.9 million copies sold in indie stores for the year.
Overall, in 2023, U.S. physical sales totaled nearly 87 million copies, of which 49.6 million was vinyl while 36.8 million was CDs. Of that total, indie stores, when they were still weighted, accounted for 36.7% of sales; non-traditional, which includes internet, mail order, Christian retailers and stores like Urban Outfitters, comprised 41.5% of physical sales; mass merchants like Target and Walmart, 16.5%; and chains like Barnes & Noble, 5%. As a result of the methodology change and boycott, Luminate reported a 40.2% drop in total physical sales (including vinyl and CDs at indie shops, chains and big-box stores) for the first eight weeks of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023 — from 13.6 million albums to 8.1 million. Within that, indie store sales fell 95.4%, from 5.71 million albums when weighted last year, to 262,000 copies.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned unweighted average weekly physical sales of nearly 72,000 averaged reported by indie retailers from January to November 2023 are now averaging 27,000 per week for the first eight weeks of 2024 because of the stores that have stopped reporting to Luminate.
As part of its plans to calculate actual sales instead of extrapolating them from a weighted sample, Luminate revealed in October that it had identified 570 indie accounts — with, industry sources say, the aid of labels, distributors and store coalitions — that it wanted to add as reporters. But as of Dec. 19, with the change in methodology looming, Luminate’s Music Connect website indicated that only six more indie sales reporters had been added, with the indie account total growing from 72 to 78. After the apparent boycott began, that fell to 36 reporters, and as of Feb. 22, to 33 indie store reporters.
Some of the retailers that have stopped reporting to Luminate are now sending their numbers to music data analysis platform StreetPulse, which is tabulating the Indie Retail Top 50 published by Hits Daily Double. Sources familiar with the chart say approximately 82 accounts operating about 185 indie stores are providing sales data, and another 50 stores are reporting online sales only.
Indie stores that have switched to StreetPulse claim it is more user-friendly because “Luminate expects the store reporters to do all the work to prepare the data for ingestion,” says one source familiar with the situation. “That takes time and [requires] a system able to make the reports. Luminate expects an indie store owner, who may be a one-man operation, to have the technical capabilities and manpower of a chain like Target.”
The source says the StreetPulse system “is cloud-based and has already integrated all the preeminent POS systems like Square for Retail Free, Shopify Clover and even some of the legacy systems like Lightspeed and Fieldstack, so it’s much easier to report.”
CIMS and ThinkIndie Distribution executive director Andrea Paschal says she supports the alternative chart because she felt her organization was “brushed aside” by Luminate.
As this conflict continues, it’s worth noting that vinyl sales keep growing. Even if indie store vinyl counts were eliminated for the first eight weeks of this year and last, Luminate’s Connect system indicates that year-to-date vinyl sales for the other nonweighted store sectors — chain, mass merchants, internet/mail order/venues and nontraditional retail — are still up nearly 7%. And the vinyl sales bonanza Record Store Day that was launched by independent record stores in 2007 is slated for April 20, less than six weeks away.
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 9, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Vinyl Group now has a fourth pillar.
Following the completion of its acquisition of The Brag Media, the Sydney-based music and tech specialist doubles-down on its mission to build revenue and integrate its new asset.
As previously reported, the transaction is funded with a new investment by billionaire WiseTech Global founder and CEO Richard White, by way of an A$11 million ($7.5 million) placement and debt facility, uniting the only music specialist company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with the market leader in premium youth content and events.
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“Our real mission or vision that we all have in the company is to empower and power all facets and parts of the music ecosystem,” Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons tells Billboard.
When the group, previously known as Jaxsta, prior to a rebrand in early December, spotted an opportunity with The Brag Media, “we also knew that the company was going to evolve into more of a portfolio music company,” Simons continues.
Prior to the purchase, Vinyl Group’s portfolio was built on the three pillars of its music credits business Jaxsta; the leading music industry social-professional network and talent marketplace Vampr; and Vinyl.com, the online record store. The Brag Media, with its range of titles including Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Variety Australia, Tone Deaf and trade title The Music Network, is its fourth pillar.
Vinyl.com is a “very fast growing ecommerce platform, it speaks to the fan,” Simons continues, “but a huge part of connecting the dots here is connecting fans as creators, and media and events and everything that The Brag does, fills that gap.” When the opportunity came across the table, and “when we knew what direction they were boldly headed in, it made a lot of sense and got us excited very quickly.”
The amalgamation of both business presents “some really obvious low hanging synergies,” he explains, pointing to sales synergies between Vampr and The Brag Media as one example, “but broadly speaking, it plugged a hole in this broader flywheel of servicing all participants in the music ecosystem.”
People, product and process – “that’s really always my focus,” explains Simons.
The co-founder of Vampr, Simons was elevated from chief strategy officer to CEO in June 2023, succeeding Beth Appleton, who stepped down as CEO with immediate effect.
“Revenue, cost efficiency and profitability remain the top priorities for Jaxsta,” Simons commented at the time of his ascension, “and I look forward to building on the current momentum.”
The agenda remains the same.
“The headline KPI was four quarters of consecutive revenue growth and moving towards profitability,” Simons says. “Under my tenure, we’ve released three quarters of performance. And in each quarter, we’ve averaged 204%, quarter over quarter.” The Brag deal “turbo charges that”.
The completion of the acquisition was confirmed with a statement Feb. 1, when stock was trading at $0.063. At the close of trading today (Feb. 8), VNL stock was trading at $0.066, for a market cap of $41.73 million.
Prior to the deal going through, The Brag Media bolstered its executive team with a triumvirate of appointments. Dane Robertson returned to the company in the newly-created role as head of client and event partnerships in Australia and New Zealand, following a stretch at media firm Pedestrian Group. Also, Denise Barnes joined as client projects director following six-plus years with lifestyle site Man of Many, most recently as head of branded content, and Anan Salvarinas joined the team as senior creative strategist, following two-and-a-half years with LADbible Australia, including a recent run as senior creative (brand).
This year is an “important” one for the business “as we focus on integrating The Brag Media into Vinyl Group’s properties as well as continued strong growth of our technology products,” explains Simons in the Feb. 1 statement to the ASX. “We now have a very clear path to profitability.”
Record Store Day is just two months away, and on Monday (Feb. 5), superstars ATEEZ were announced as RSD’s first-ever K-pop Artist of the Year, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news To celebrate, Record Store Day will feature an exclusive vinyl release of […]
With 110 million buyers, sellers, collectors and lurkers roaming through Discogs every year, the 23-year-old online music marketplace’s forum threads are not exactly full of emotional support. In one of the notoriously messy threads, users complain about the May 2023 increase in selling fees from 8–9%. “What a rip off,” goes one post.
In another forum, someone advises a seller contending with a buyer demanding a full refund: “People here need to have more balls when dealing with dopes. Grow a pair.” And another user simply writes: “Discogs has gone downhill. It’s really sad. I have loved this site for so long. It feels like bots are running it. AI is just going to make it worse.”
How does Discogs turn these passionate, semi-anonymous user criticisms into upgrades? Very carefully, according to Lloyd Starr, chief operating officer since May 1: “We’ve got millions of people on the platform every month now. It’s a lot harder to find the signal in that noise.”
To improve communication between Discogs and its users, the company’s executive leadership plans to spend 2024 rolling out initiatives to solicit user suggestions and make broad changes. The Discogs community remains angry about the fee increase — which applies to shipping costs, too — and the way the company suggested the “easiest thing” for sellers to do would be to increase their prices. In a “we can do better” post last month, founder and CEO Kevin Lewandowski announced a soon-to-be-created Community Advisory Board, for users to “bring feedback and ideas to Discogs and influence how the platform evolves.”
The advisory board, Starr suggests, will be the centerpiece of Discogs’ changes. In roughly late March, Discogs will solicit applications from users and appoint representatives from the “selling, contributing and collecting” communities, as Starr calls them, by early summer. “It’s more of a dynamic conversation than a one-way post on a forum,” he says.
Lewandowski and Starr have already begun their Discogs feedback-solicitation tour. The pair traveled to New York City together in mid-January to meet with power users, including Craig Kallman, chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records, who gave them a tour of his two million LPs. Starr won’t reveal exactly what these users suggested, but he outlines a broad plan for Discogs to use surveys, polls and live contests at record-selling events. “We really want the community to feel listened to and give them advice,” he says.
In addition, Discogs will roll out “25 in ’25,” an attempt to boost the company’s online database from 17 million listed items to 25 million by its 25th anniversary in November 2025. (As of 2019, the latest year in which Discogs released sales numbers, users sold 14.6 million items on the platform, including 11.6 million vinyl LPs.)
To help achieve 25 million, the company recently hired Brent Greissle, a longtime user who has personally added 50,000 entries to Discogs’ database, as principal of discography affairs, to oversee the project. Starr also hopes to expand the database’s “richness and diversity in culture,” tapping into Brazil’s record-store community, for example, through trips to Sao Paulo, like one Lewandowski recently took to visit the world’s biggest LP collector, Zero Freitas, who by some accounts owns over six million records.
As for technological changes, Lewandowski spells out plans to improve the log-in and checkout systems and want lists. “I wrote most of the code originally back in 2000. It had a major rewrite in 2004. Some of our current software goes back that far,” he says. “This enables us to do things faster and give the community things they’ve been asking us for.” Starr elaborates that Discogs has been working for years to upgrade order management, user authentication and fraud mitigation to bring the site up to Amazon-style e-commerce standards — but it’ll take more time. “We’ve got a little technical debt to resolve here,” he says.
Several Discogs users say they’re skeptical of broad changes coming from executive leadership, which they say hasn’t listened to their concerns. Jonathan Highfield, a longtime seller near Liverpool, England, complains that Greissle, a liaison between Discogs management and user forums, is too overloaded to respond effectively about slow-loading pages or difficulty searching for releases by genre, style or label. “If they’re listening, great, but the channel is too narrow for enough information to pass through,” Highfield says. “It makes people not want to use the site.”
And like many sellers, Kurt Walling, a semi-retired optician in Streetsboro, Ohio, who has been offloading portions of his personal collection via Discogs for years, remains upset about last year’s increase in selling fees. Of the imminent changes Starr is describing, Walling says: “My inclination is to think it’s corporate stuff. I don’t think it’s sincere.”
By way of response, Starr says, the last time Discogs changed its fees was 10 years ago, and since then, the company has been “absorbing the rising cost of salaries, the rising cost of enterprise software.” Plus, competitors like Amazon and eBay take a sales percentage out of every order, and Discogs is “doing the same thing.” While Discogs could have communicated the new fees more effectively to users, according to Starr, “I don’t think removing fees makes sense.”
And for all the discontent found on the Discogs forums, one user is satisfied with his experience: Kallman, who continues to use its database to help track Atlantic’s vast catalog of releases. “Crucial, rare, out-of-print recordings that might otherwise be at risk of being forgotten in the digital era are all preserved,” he says. “The database is the most valuable asset of Discogs, and they give it away for free. It’s a constant, evolving, living, breathing organism that continues to fine-tune to maintain the completeness of the platform.”
In 2023, Taylor Swift loomed so large in the world of vinyl albums, that one of every 15 vinyl albums sold in the U.S. was by the superstar.
Comparatively, in 2022, she accounted for one of every 25 vinyl albums sold.
Swift was the year’s top-selling act on vinyl for a third straight year, with 3.484 million copies sold across her catalog of albums, according to data tracking firm Luminate. The industry’s total vinyl album sales for 2023, across all artists in the U.S., finished at 49.61 million – up 14.2% from 43.46 million in 2022. 2023 marked the 18th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.
In 2023, Swift’s vinyl sales accounted for 7% of the industry’s total vinyl album sales.
Read more about the year-end numbers in the U.S. 2023 Luminate Year-End Music Report.
Swift’s vinyl sales were so big in 2023 that she sold more than the next seven-biggest-selling acts on vinyl last year. Lana Del Rey was the year’s No. 2-seller on vinyl, with 646,000 copies sold, followed by Tyler, the Creator (552,000), Travis Scott (474,000), Olivia Rodrigo (408,000), Kendrick Lamar (382,000), Metallica (378,000) and The Beatles (373,000). (To round out the top 10-selling acts on vinyl last year, Fleetwood Mac was No. 9, with 357,000, and Mac Miller was No. 10 with 354,000.)
The top-selling vinyl album of 2023 was Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) with 1.014 million sold. That marks the largest yearly sales total for a vinyl album, and the first vinyl set to sell a million in a calendar year, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The set also scored the largest sales week for a vinyl set since 1991 when it debuted with 693,000 copies sold in its first week.
Swift has five of the top 10-selling vinyl albums of 2023, and the entire top three. (See list, below.)
TOP 10-SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (1.014 million)2. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (510,000)3. Taylor Swift, Midnights (492,000)4. Travis Scott, Utopia (373,000)5. Taylor Swift, Folklore (308,000)6. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (267,000)7. Taylor Swift, Lover (256,000)8. Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (215,000)9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (206,000)10. Lana Del Rey, Born To Die (192,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
Vinyl album sales comprised 47.1% of all album sales in the U.S. in 2023 (49.61 million of 105.32 million). Vinyl LPs accounted for 57% of all physical album sold last year (49.61 million of 87 million). Both sums are Luminate-era records for vinyl’s share of the album sales market in the U.S.
For the third consecutive year, and the third year since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, vinyl albums outsold CD albums in the U.S. Vinyl once again is the leading configuration for album purchases for the third year in a row. (Vinyl was the top-selling album configuration in 2023, followed by CDs and then digital download albums.)
Vinyl was the dominant configuration for album purchases in the U.S. up until the early 1980s. After that, cassettes took hold until the early ‘90s, when the CD configuration blossomed and remained king until 2021, when vinyl retook the top slot.
Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991 when the company was known as SoundScan. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts. Luminate’s 2023 tracking year ran from Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023. Luminate is an independently operated company and a subsidiary of PME TopCo, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Billboard is an independently operated company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time closed out 2023 as the most popular album of the year in the U.S., according to music data tracking firm Luminate. The album’s lead single, “Last Night,” was the year’s most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams, while Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” was the most-heard song on the radio. Total music consumption in the U.S. – as measured in equivalent album units – increased by 12.6% in 2023. (View the U.S. 2023 Luminate Year-End Music Report.)
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See the year’s top 10 albums chart, along with other year-end rankings and overall industry volume numbers, below.
But first, the fine print:
Equivalent album units – for album titles and chart rankings cited below (but not industry volume numbers) – comprise traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Album titles and album chart rankings by equivalent album units do not include user-generated content (UGC) streams, but UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry volume numbers. (UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.)
For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio or digital radio broadcasts. All numbers cited in this story are rounded, and reflect U.S. consumption only.
Luminate’s equivalent album unit totals include SEA and TEA for an album’s songs registered before an album’s release, but during the tracking period of Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991 when the company was known as SoundScan. Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data is used to compile Billboard’s weekly charts. Luminate’s 2023 tracking year ran from Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
Luminate is an independently operated company and a subsidiary of PME TopCo, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Billboard is an independently operated company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.
Highlights from Luminate’s 2023 year-end data:
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time was Luminate’s top album of 2023. It’s the second time Wallen has led the year-end list. He also was tops in 2021 with Dangerous: The Double Album.
On Luminate’s 2023 U.S. year-end top 10 most popular albums ranking, Taylor Swift has five of the top 10 titles – a single-year Luminate-era record.
Total U.S. album consumption increased by 12.6% in 2023.
R&B/hip-hop continues to hold firm as the top U.S. core genre by total album consumption; the world music genre – inclusive of the Korean pop (K-pop) genre – had the largest percentage gain year-over-year.
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” tallied 1.015 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams in 2023 — the most U.S. on-demand audio streams a song has earned in a calendar year. It is only the second song ever to exceed 1 billion on-demand audio streams in a calendar year.
Yearly U.S. on-demand audio streams surpassed 1 trillion for the second time.
27% of all on-demand audio streams in the U.S. in 2023 were R&B/hip-hop songs, the largest share of any core genre.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the first vinyl album in Luminate history to sell 1 million copies in a calendar year in the U.S.
Swift sold more albums in 2023 than any other act, accounting for 6% of all albums sold, industry-wide.
The top 10-selling CD albums of 2023 were all by Swift or K-pop acts.
Total U.S. album sales grew 5.2% in 2023 – just the second year that album sales grew in the last 10 years.
U.S. vinyl album sales outsold CDs for the third year in a row. 2023 marked the 18th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.
47.1% of all albums sold in 2023 in the U.S. – across all configurations, physical & digital combined – were vinyl LPs. 57% of all physical albums sold were vinyl.
Total U.S. album sales for the year (physical and digital download purchases combined) grew by 5.2%.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) sold 1.975 million in traditional album sales in the U.S. in 2023 – the biggest-selling album of any year since 2015.
One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated March 18, 2023, and spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks atop the tally. That marked the most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Adele’s blockbuster 21 spent 24 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2011-12. One Thing at a Time is the second Wallen album to be named Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album, after his previous release, Dangerous: The Double Album, in 2021. Wallen is the first artist to have Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album twice in a three-year span since Drake led the year-end ranking in 2018 (with Scorpion) and in 2016 (with Views).
Nearly all of One Thing at a Time’s units earned in 2023 were powered by on-demand streams of its 36 songs. Its collected tracks generated 6.657 billion on-demand streams in the U.S., equaling 92.5% of the album’s total activity for the year (or, 4.962 million SEA units of its total 5.362 million units). One Thing at a Time was also the most-streamed album of 2023.
One Thing at a Time sold 326,000 in traditional album sales in 2023 (making it the No. 13-biggest-selling album of the year). The set also generated 745,000 in individual digital track sales, equaling nearly 75,000 in TEA units.
2023 marks the eighth year in a row in which Luminate’s year-end top album is by a solo male artist. The last time a solo male didn’t finish at No. 1 was in 2015, when Adele’s 25 ruled.
One Thing at a Time’s 5.362 million equivalent album units earned in 2023 is the largest sum for any album measured in a calendar year since 2015, when Adele’s 25 tallied 8.008 million and was the year’s top album.
One Thing at a Time spun off the massive multi-format chart hit “Last Night,” which spent 16 weeks atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. The tune also closes 2023 as the most-streamed song by on-demand audio streams.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S., BY TOTAL EQUIVALENT ALBUM UNITS1. Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (5.362 million)2. Taylor Swift, Midnights (3.209 million)3. SZA, SOS (3.172 million)4. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2.872 million)5. Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (2.179 million)6. Taylor Swift, Lover (1.875 million)7. Travis Scott, Utopia (1.782 million)8. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (1.775 million)9. Taylor Swift, Folklore (1.612 million)10. Metro Boomin, Heroes & Villains (1.573 million)
Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023. UGC streams are not included in this chart, but are included in Luminate’s on-demand streaming charts (below).
While Wallen has a pair of titles in the year-end top 10, Taylor Swift looms even larger. Swift has five albums among Luminate’s year-end top 10 – the first time any act has placed that many albums among Luminate’s year-end top 10 since the company began tracking data in 1991. Previously, the most titles any single act had among the year’s top 10 was three, achieved by Garth Brooks in 1993.
On Luminate’s year-end top 10 albums ranking, Swift is found at No. 2 (Midnights, 3.209 million units), No. 4 (1989 [Taylor’s Version], 2.872 million), No. 6 (Lover, 1.875 million), No. 8 (Speak Now [Taylor’s Version], 1.775 million) and No. 9 (Folklore, 1.612 million). Just two of those albums were released in 2023: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Midnights was issued in late 2022, while Folklore bowed in 2020 and Lover arrived in 2019. All of Swift’s catalog in 2023 was buoyed by her stadium-filling The Eras Tour and its film adaptation Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Swift also has five of the top 10-selling albums of 2023, five of the year’s top 10-selling vinyl albums and three of the top 10-selling CD albums. She’s also No. 1 on each of the three rankings. (See lists, below.)
TOTAL ALBUM CONSUMPTION INCREASES 12.6%: Equivalent album units increased by 12.6% in 2023, to 1.097 billion (up from 974.9 million in 2022). There were 28 albums that earned at least 1 million equivalent album units in 2023 – up from 19 in 2022.
R&B/HIP-HOP LEADS AMONG GENRES: R&B/hip-hop continues to hold firm as the top genre by total album consumption, with 277.27 million units earned in 2023 – equating to 25.3% of total volume (1.097 billion units) last year across all of Luminate’s core genres measured. R&B/hip-hop consumption increased by 5.9% in 2023 over its volume in 2022 (261.72 million). However, R&B/hip-hop’s share of total consumption decreased from 26.8% in 2022 to 25.3% in 2023. (R&B/hip-hop is an umbrella genre for Luminate that contains most titles categorized as R&B and/or rap.)
2023’s second-largest genre, by total album consumption, was rock with 212.42 million units (up 9.1% from 194.72 million in 2022). Pop music was third, with 135.32 million (up 9.4% from 123.72 million in 2022), country was fourth, with 92.19 million (up 21.8% from 75.69 million in 2022) and Latin was fifth, with 75.26 million (up 21.9% from 61.73 million in 2022).
In terms of the largest percentage gains among Luminate’s core genres, year-over-year, the world music genre had the biggest increase in 2023. The genre’s 34.1% gain last year (29.94 million units vs. 22.32 million in 2022) is inclusive of Korean pop (K-pop) music. (K-pop is one of the many music genres housed within the larger world music core genre.) The second-and-third-largest percentage increases in 2023 among Luminate’s core genres belonged to Latin (up 21.9%, to 75.26 million in 2023, vs. 61.73 million in 2022) and country (up 21.8%, to 92.19 million, vs. 75.69 million in 2022).
TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘1989 (TAYLOR’S VERSION)’ IS 2023’s TOP-SELLING ALBUM: Taylor Swift’s most recent release, and her fourth re-recorded project, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), was 2023’s top-selling album in the U.S., with 1.975 million copies sold across all configurations (physical and digital combined: CD, vinyl LP, cassette, digital download album). See the top 10-selling albums, below.
TOP 10-SELLING ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S. (PHYSICAL & DIGITAL SALES COMBINED)1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (1.975 million)2. Taylor Swift, Midnights (973,000)3. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (908,000)4. Travis Scott, Utopia (575,000)5. Stray Kids, 5-STAR (526,000)6. Taylor Swift, Folklore (466,000)7. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (444,000)8. Taylor Swift, Lover (425,000)9. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (404,000)10. Stray Kids, ROCK-STAR (229,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
With 1.975 million copies sold, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the biggest-selling album of any year since 2015, when Adele’s 25 sold 7.441 million copies. An album by Swift has been the year’s top-seller in six of the last 10 years: 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in 2023, Midnights in 2022, Folklore in 2020, Lover in 2019, Reputation in 2017 and 1989 in 2014. She also had the top-seller in 2009 with Fearless. Swift is the only act to have the top-selling album of the year at least seven times since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) was also the top-selling vinyl LP of 2023 (1.014 million sold) and the top-selling CD album of the year (800,000 sold). 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the first album to sell a million copies on vinyl in a calendar year since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
Sales of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) were bolstered by its availability across 15 physical configurations: five color vinyl variants, eight CD editions and two cassette albums. Further, of the five vinyl variants, Target carried a color edition that includes one bonus track (“Sweeter Than Fiction”). The set was also issued in two download editions – a standard 21-song version and a deluxe 22-track edition which adds a re-recorded version of the album’s “Bad Blood,” featuring Kendrick Lamar.
Swift, like many acts, leaned into creating additional versions of an album for purchase by superfans. All of the top 10-selling albums of 2023 were aided by their availability across multiple iterations, including many that contained collectible branded merchandise or color vinyl.
Swift by far sold the most albums of any act in 2023 in the U.S., as her collected catalog sold 6.172 million copies (across all configurations, physical and digital combined). Her sales accounted for 6% of all album sales last year across all albums by all artists. The second-biggest selling act, in terms of album sales in 2023, was K-pop group Stray Kids with 1.205 million copies sold.
TOTAL U.S. ALBUM SALES INCREASE BY 5.2%: Total U.S. album sales increased by 5.2% in 2023 to 105.32 million copies sold (up from 100.09 million in 2022). 2023 marked just the second year album sales increased in the last 10 years, following 2021. Album sales declined in every year from 2012-20, and again in 2022, as fans increasingly adopt streaming services as a means to consume music.
Total U.S. physical album sales (CD, vinyl LP, cassette, etc.) increased by 8.9% to 87 million in 2023 (up from 79.89 million in 2022). Digital album sales declined by 9.3% to 18.32 million in 2023 (down from 20.2 million in 2022).
VINYL REIGNS: For the third consecutive year, and the third year since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, vinyl albums outsold CD albums in the U.S. Vinyl once again is the leading configuration for album purchases for the third year in a row.
Vinyl was the dominant configuration for album purchases in the U.S. up until the early 1980s. After that, cassettes took hold until the early 1990s, when the CD configuration blossomed and remained king until 2021, when vinyl retook the top slot.
49.61 million vinyl albums were sold in 2023 (up 14.2% from 43.46 million in 2022). 2023 marked the 18th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.
TOP 10-SELLING VINYL ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (1.014 million)2. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (510,000)3. Taylor Swift, Midnights (492,000)4. Travis Scott, Utopia (373,000)5. Taylor Swift, Folklore (308,000)6. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (267,000)7. Taylor Swift, Lover (256,000)8. Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (215,000)9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (206,000)10. Lana Del Rey, Born to Die (192,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
The top-selling vinyl album of 2023 is Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) with 1.014 million sold. That marks the largest yearly sales total for a vinyl album, and the first vinyl set to sell a million in a calendar year, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The effort also scored the largest sales week for a vinyl set since 1991 when it debuted with 693,000 copies sold in its first week.
Swift closed 2023 with five of the top 10-selling vinyl albums. Further, her catalog of albums sold 3.484 million copies on vinyl in 2023 – the most of any artist. (Lana Del Rey was the second-biggest selling act on vinyl in 2023, with 646,000 sold.) Swift’s vinyl sales accounted for 7% of the industry’s total vinyl album sales in 2023.
Vinyl album sales comprised 47.1% of all album sales in the U.S. in 2023 (49.61 million of 105.32 million). Vinyl LPs accounted for 57% of all physical album sold last year (49.61 million of 87 million). Both sums are Luminate-era records for vinyl’s share of the album sales market in the U.S.
In 2023 a total of 99 albums each sold at least 50,000 copies on vinyl – up from 88 in 2022. Comparatively, 65 albums on the CD configuration sold at least 50,000 copies in 2023 (up from 56 in 2022).
CD ALBUM SALES INCREASE, SWIFT & K-POP DOMINATE: 36.83 million CD albums were sold in 2023 (up 2.7% compared to 35.87 million in 2022), making it the second-most popular configuration for album purchases.
The top 10-selling CD albums of 2023 are comprised entirely of releases by Swift and K-pop artists. All profit from their availability across multiple collectible editions for superfans.
Swift sold the most CD albums in 2023, with 1.985 million copies sold across her entire catalog of titles. Stray Kids wrap as the No. 2-seller on CD, with 1.188 million sold. Swift’s CD sales represented 5.4% of all CD albums sold in 2023, industry-wide.
TOP 10-SELLING CD ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (800,000)2. Stray Kids, 5-STAR (520,000)3. TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (442,000)4. Stray Kids, ROCK-STAR (381,000)5. NewJeans, 2nd EP Get Up (332,000)6. TWICE, Ready to Be (303,000)7. SEVENTEEN, SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album Fml (288,000)8. Taylor Swift, Midnights (276,000)9. Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (267,000)10. Jung Kook, Golden (244,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
Digital album sales were the third-most popular configuration in 2023 for album purchases, and the category dropped by 9.3% to 18.32 million (down from 20.2 million in 2022). The top-selling digital album of 2023 was Swift’s Midnights, with 201,000 downloads sold. Swift additionally was the top-selling artist in terms of digital albums in 2023, with 667,000 downloads sold. Morgan Wallen was the second-biggest-selling artist in terms of download albums, with 187,000 sold. Swift’s digital sales presented 3.6% of all download albums sold, industry-wide.
CASSETTE SALES STEADY: After cassette album sales jumped 28% in 2022, the niche configuration mostly stayed steady in 2023, slipping just 0.75%. In 2023, a total of 436,400 cassette albums were sold – a sliver less than the 439,700 sold in 2022. Cassettes were the leading album configuration for purchases from the early 1980s until the early 1990s. Today, cassette tapes are frequently sold exclusively on an artist’s webstore and in collectible editions. In 2023, the Billboard 200 chart saw No. 1 albums that boasted a cassette configuration from Blink-182’s One More Time, Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts and Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights (which first led the list in 2022).
TOTAL STREAMING INCREASES 14.6%, ON-DEMAND AUDIO UP 12.7%: Total U.S. on-demand song streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of UGC streams) increased by 14.6% to 1.453 trillion in 2023 (up from 1.268 trillion in 2022). Yearly on-demand audio streams (again, inclusive of UGC) surpassed 1 trillion for a second time, with 1.249 trillion (up 12.7% from 1.108 trillion in 2022).
On-demand audio streams comprised 86% of all on-demand streams in 2023, with the remainder generated by on-demand video.
The R&B/hip-hop genre accounted for the most on-demand streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of UGC) in 2023, among Luminate’s core genres, with 26.6% of the year’s volume (387.09 billion of 1.453 trillion).
Rock had the second-largest share of on-demand song streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of UGC) in 2023, with 16.2% of volume (235.11 billion of 1.453 trillion). Pop was third with 12.6% (182.63 billion of 1.453 trillion), Latin was fourth with 8.3% (120.18 billion of 1.453 trillion) country was fifth with 7.8% (113.09 billion of 1.453 trillion).
As for year-over-year growth in total on-demand streams (audio and video combined, inclusive of UGC) among Luminate’s core genres, world music had the largest percentage growth, increasing by 33.3% to 35.97 billion, as compared to 26.98 billion in 2022. The respective second- and third-biggest increases, by percentage, belonged to the genres of dance/electronic (23.2% to 54.37 billion, up from 44.14 billion in 2022) and country (22.2% to 113.09 billion, up from 92.52 billion in 2022).
Looking just at on-demand audio streams for 2023 (inclusive of UGC), R&B/hip-hop was tops with 27% of volume (337.21 billion of 1.249 trillion). Rock (17%; 211.72 billion of 1.249 trillion), pop (11.8%; 147.11 billion of 1.249 trillion), country (8.5%; 106.28 billion of 1.249 trillion) and Latin (8%; 99.71 billion of 1.249 trillion) were Nos. 2-5 for 2023, respectively, as they were in 2022 and 2021.
The genres that saw the largest percentage growth in year-over-year on-demand audio streams (inclusive of UGC) were world music (up 26.2% to 27.52 billion, up from 21.8 billion in 2022), Latin (up 24.1% to 99.71 billion, up from 80.34 billion in 2022) and country (up 23.7% to 106.28 billion, up from 85.91 billion in 2022).
Note: UGC streams are included in Luminate’s industry streaming on-demand volume numbers and its year-end streaming song charts. UGC streams are not factored into any of Billboard’s weekly charts.
‘LAST NIGHT’ SURPASSED 1 BILLION ON-DEMAND AUDIO STREAMS: Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” was the most-streamed song of 2023 in the U.S. by on-demand audio streams (inclusive of UGC), with 1.015 billion – the most U.S. on-demand audio streams a song has earned in a calendar year.
“Last Night” is the second song to surpass 1 billion on-demand audio streams in a calendar year in the U.S., following Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus), which cleared 1.002 billion in 2019.
See the top 10 most-streamed songs, by on-demand audio, below.
TOP 10 MOST STREAMED SONGS OF 2023 IN U.S., ON DEMAND AUDIO1. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (1.015 billion)2. SZA, “Kill Bill” (802.60 million)3. Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange” (656.07 million)4. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (634.42 million)5. SZA, “Snooze” (550.83 million)6. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (539.29 million)7. Eslabon Armado x Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola” (526.34 million)8. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (525.51 million)9. Morgan Wallen, “You Proof” (517.58 million)10. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer” (507.78 million)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023. Includes UGC streams.
DIGITAL TRACK SALES DECLINE FOR 11TH YEAR IN A ROW: Digital track sales declined for an 11th consecutive year, falling 11.9% to 133.88 million in 2023 (down from 151.9 million in 2022). The top-selling digital song of 2023 was Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” with 497,000 downloads sold. It was the second year in a row that no song sold more than a half-million downloads. Prior to 2022, it last happened in the early days of downloading, in 2004 (the first full year of the iTunes Store, which launched in mid-2003). Further, 2023 marks the second year in a row that no song sold 1 million copies. Before 2022, the industry last had a year without a million-selling download in 2005.
TOP 10-SELLING DIGITAL SONGS OF 2023 IN U.S.1. Jason Aldean, “Try That in a Small Town” (497,000)2. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (428,000)3. Oliver Anthony Music, “Rich Men North of Richmond” (358,000)4. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (302,000)5. Jimin, “Like Crazy” (296,000)6. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (251,000)7. Jung Kook featuring Latto, “Seven” (228,000)8. Jelly Roll, “Need a Favor” (181,000)9. Jung Kook, “Standing Next to You” (163,000)10. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (159,000)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022 through Dec. 28, 2023.
CYRUS’ ‘FLOWERS’ BLOOMED ON RADIO: Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” was tops on radio in 2023, with 3.919 billion audience impressions earned across all monitored radio stations in the U.S. Audience impressions are measured by cross-referencing plays with Nielsen Audio audience data – i.e., a play of a song on a top-rated New York station at 8 a.m. on a Monday has more listeners (audience) than an overnight weekend play in a smaller city.
TOP 10 RADIO SONGS OF 2023 IN U.S. (BASED ON AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS)1. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (3.919 billion)2. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down” (3.643 billion)3. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’” (3.529 billion)4. The Weeknd, “Die for You” (2.628 billion)5. SZA, “Kill Bill” (2.623 billion)6. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero” (2.491 billion)7. David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)” (2.448 billion)8. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” (2.435 billion)9. Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (2.358 billion)10. Harry Styles, “As It Was” (2.199 billion)Source: Luminate, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.
As sales of vinyl grew for the 16th consecutive year in the U.K., Taylor Swift and The Beatles reigned supreme.
Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI) was the U.K.’s biggest-selling vinyl album of 2023, according to data published by the Official Charts Company, shifting 84,700 copies on the format since its release last October.
The fourth in Swift’s re-recording projects blasted to the biggest opening week for any album in 2023 (with more than 184,000 combined units), and logged three weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Based on midweek data, it’s set to log a fourth when the weekly chart is published this Friday, Jan. 5.
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Swifties love their wax. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is one of three Swift LPs to crack the top 10 on the Official Top 40 best-selling vinyl albums of 2023, ahead of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (No. 4) and Midnights (No. 8), while another five titles impact the year-end chart: Lover (No. 20), folklore (No. 21), reputation (No. 27), evermore (No. 37) and the Record Store Day limited-edition release folklore – The Long Pond Studio Sessions (No. 38).
Completing the podium on the U.K.’s year-end vinyl albums chart is The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds (Polydor), at No. 2; and Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor), at No. 3, respectively.
Meanwhile, The Beatles’ “last” single “Now And Then” (via Apple Corps), released 53 years after the Fab Four split, is crowned the best-selling vinyl single of 2023 in the U.K.
The song, which began life as a demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s, and which features contributions from all four members of the legendary band, moved 33,000 copies on vinyl since its release, which included 12” and 7” versions, with fans snapping up clear, light blue and blue/white marble editions.
En route to No. 1 on the weekly tally last November, “Now And Then” established a flurry of records, including the longest span between an artist’s first and last No. 1, and the U.K.’s fastest-selling vinyl single of the century.
On the year-end vinyl singles tally, Boygenius’s “The Rest” (Interscope) comes in behind the Beatles, at No. 2, while veteran electronic music wizard Aphex Twin completes the top 3 with “Blackbox Life Recorder 21F” (Warp). British punk icons the Sex Pistols land three vinyl releases in the U.K.’s top 10, all via Virgin: “Anarchy in the U.K.” (No. 5), “Holidays in the Sun” (No. 6) and “Pretty Vacant” (No. 9).
Vinyl is no trifling matter. Data published by the BPI, which operates the OCC in a joint venture with entertainment retail body ERA, shows that the format posted its 16th consecutive year of growth in 2023.Year-on-year growth was 11.7% to 5.9 million units (up to week 51), for the highest annual sales figures for the format since 1990. That’s well up on the 2.9% growth recorded in the previous year.
See the full year-end vinyl charts here.
U.S. vinyl album sales surged in the week ending Dec. 21, with 2.054 million copies sold, according to Luminate. That marks the largest week of 2023 for vinyl albums, and the third-largest week in the modern era — since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991. The only two larger weeks registered since 1991 both […]
Record Store Day’s Black Friday festivities on Nov. 24 yielded big gains for vinyl album sales in the U.S., thanks to hot-selling titles by the likes of Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo, The Doors, U2 and Post Malone – all released exclusively for the indie store holiday.
According to Luminate, in the tracking week ending Nov. 30, the top five-selling Record Store Day (RSD) Black Friday album release were Linkin Park’s Lost Demos (on translucent sea blue vinyl), Rodrigo’s four-song Guts: The Secret Tracks (on opaque deep purple vinyl), The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (on double vinyl), U2’s U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (on red vinyl, naturally) and Post Malone’s The Diamond Collection (on clear double vinyl). (See lists below, which are ranked by album sales generated in the week ending Nov. 30.)
The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield set was released on both vinyl and as a two-CD set, and their combined sales across the two configurations make the album the RSD Black Friday top-seller overall for the week.
Typically, many unique and limited-edition titles – both albums and singles – are released for RSD Black Friday celebrations, exclusively sold through independent and small chain music stores. Record Store Day traditionally has its main indie store holiday in the springtime (2023’s edition was held on April 22), followed by a secondary shindig for Black Friday.
In the week ending Nov. 30, U.S. vinyl album sales industry-wide (across all sellers of music, not just indie stores and small chains) grew 67% to 1.748 million sold (up from 1.046 million sold the previous week). Independent store vinyl album sales for the week jumped 149% to 829,000 (up from 333,000 the previous week). 47.4% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 were purchased at independent and small chain music stores (829,000 of 1.748 million).
With 1.748 million vinyl albums sold industry-wide, that marks the fifth-largest week for vinyl album sales in the U.S. in the modern era, since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. (It’s also the second-largest week of 2023 for vinyl album sales, following the week ending April 27, which captured Record Store Day 2023, with 1.809 million sold). The biggest week since 1991 for vinyl album sales was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 2.232 million vinyl albums were sold.
Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S. (By Configuration)Rank, Artist, Title1. Linkin Park, Lost Demos (translucent sea blue vinyl)2. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts: The Secret Tracks (opaque deep purple vinyl)3. The Doors, Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (double vinyl)4. U2, U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (red vinyl)5. Post Malone, The Diamond Collection (clear double vinyl)6. Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight (translucent “blacklight” purple vinyl)7. Noah Kahan, Cape Elizabeth (color marbled vinyl)8. Grateful Dead, Filmore West 1969, March 2nd (five vinyl LP box set)9. Coheed and Cambria, Live at the Starland Ballroom (solar flare colored double vinyl)10. Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels, The Last Roundup: Live From the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73 (double vinyl)11. Jerry Garcia & John Kahn, Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium San Rafael, California – February, 28, 1986 (double vinyl)12. Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark: Demos (vinyl)13. CZARFACE, CZARtificial Intelligence (translucent Czarbury orange vinyl)14. The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album (green vinyl)15. My Morning Jacket, Happy Holiday! (clear vinyl with “white snow splatters”)16. Faces, Had Me a Real Good Time: Live at the BBC, In Session & In Concert 1971-1973 (vinyl)17. Nas, I Am… The Autobiography (double vinyl)18. The English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It (double vinyl)19. Willie Nelson, Shotgun Willie (double vinyl)20. Bill Evans / Chuck Israels / Larry Bunker, Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) (vinyl)21. Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: At the Movies (purple marble vinyl)22. Kim Petras, Problematique (apple red vinyl)23. Jonas Brothers, The Family Business (clear double vinyl)24. Soundtrack, Asteroid City (orange double vinyl)25. The Flaming Lips, Live at the Paradise Lounge (pink vinyl)
Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. Prince and The N.P.G, Gett Off (12-inch vinyl)2. Billy Strings featuring Willie Nelson, California Sober (green 12-inch vinyl)3. Turnstile x BADBADNOTGOOD, Mystery / Alien Love Call, featuring Blood Orange / Underwater Boi (12-inch vinyl)4. Motley Crue, Too Young to Fall In Love (Remix) / Knock em’ Dead Kid / Too Fast for Love (orange/black 12-inch vinyl)5. Cypress Hill, Insane In the Brain (2023 Remix) / Hits From the Bong (2023 Remix) (12-inch vinyl)6. Phoenix, Winter Solstice / Winter Solstice (Braxe+Falcon Remix) (7-inch vinyl)7. Aimee Mann, Dead Eyes / Dead Eyes (demo) (7-inch vinyl)8. Jeff Beck, Midnight Walker Lament, featuring Imelda May / Elegy for Dunkirk (Live), featuring Olivia Safe / Goin’ Down (Live) (12-inch vinyl)9. The Hold Steady, The Death of the Punchline / Radar & Leda (random color 12-inch)10. Waterboys, This Is the Sea (Fast) / The Passenger (10-inch vinyl)
Source: Luminate, for the week ending Nov. 30, 2023.