Vinyl sales have reached a 25 year high, with David Bowie‘s final album ‘Blackstar’ the highest-seller.
UK vinyl sales reached a high of 3.2million in 2016 – a massive increase of 53% from the previous year, reports the BPI.
Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ was the most popular vinyl release of last year, selling more than double the number of copies of 2015’s biggest-seller, Adele’s ’25’.
Amy Winehouse has the second best selling release of 2016 with her final album ‘Back To Black’, while the ‘mixtape’ soundtrack for the movie Guardians Of The Galaxy came in third and Radiohead’s acclaimed, Mercury-nominated ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ was at No.4. The rest of the top 10 was filled by ‘classic’ and legacy albums from the likes of Fleetwood Mac, The Stone Roses, The Beatles, Nirvana and the late Prince.
- Read more: the most beautiful vinyl releases of 2016
However, vinyl only accounts for 2.6% of overall music sales, with CDs and download sales dropping rapidly. CD sales dropped by 11.7% and downloads fell by 29.6%.
Check out the top 10 best-selling vinyl albums of 2016 below:
1) David Bowie – ‘Blackstar’
2) Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’
3) Various Artists – ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Mix 1’
4) Radiohead – ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’
5) Fleetwood Mac – ‘Rumours’
6) The Stone Roses – ‘Stone Roses’
7) Bob Marley – ‘Legend’
8) The Beatles – ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
9) Prince – ‘Purple Rain’
10) Nirvana – ‘Nevermind’
Described as his ‘parting gift’, Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ vinyl artwork is said to be packed with hidden ‘secrets and surprises’ for fans to discover – says designer Jonathan Barnbrook. After one fan found that leaving the sleeve exposed to sunlight unveiled a galaxy of stars, this then led to other fans sharing their own discoveries after experimenting with the artwork.
“There are a lot of other things going on that aren’t completely at the surface, but I do hope people see them – not necessarily straight away,” said designer Barnbrook earlier this year. “This thing of keeping the meaning open, I think is better. There’s one big thing which people haven’t discovered yet. Let’s just say, if people find it, they find it. If they don’t, they don’t.”
- Read more: David Bowie in NME People Of The Year
A special tribute concert to David Bowie is set to take place at Brixton Academy to mark his birthday this weekend, featuring friend and actor Gary Oldman along with over 30 musicians that collaborated with Bowie throughout his career.