UK vinyl sales top one million this year; Pink Floyd’s Endless River is fastest selling release since 1997

Over one million records have been sold in the UK so far this year.

We all know that vinyl has been on the way back for some time, but its by the milestones that any revival is best measured. Having been mooted last month, the Official Chart Company have confirmed that vinyl sales have topped the one million mark in the UK for the first time since 1996, with over a month to spare.

The industry watchdog also confirmed that Pink Floyd’s comeback album The Endless River has helped the figures over the finish line, shifting 6,000 copies in its first week to become the fastest selling vinyl release in the UK since 1997.

Some way short of the world record set by Jack White earlier this year, who sold a whopping 40,000 copies of his new album Lazaretto in its first seven days on the market, The Endless River is just one piece of a bigger story that has also seen Royal Blood, The Arctic Monkeys and Oasis’ Definitely Maybe reissue contribute. That the Manchester band are back in the top five for vinyl sales over twenty years after Definitely Maybe was released tells its own story.

Speaking of the sustained renaissance managing director of the Official Charts Company Martin Talbot told the BBC: “In an era when we’re all talking about digital music, the fact that these beautiful physical artefacts are still as popular as they are is fantastic.”

Gennaro Castaldo from music industry body the BPI has predicted that total figures are expected to rise to around 1.2 million with Christmas sales.

It remains to be seen how many more milestones must be reached before strong vinyl sales are so commonplace as no longer to be news worthy.