2.11 million vinyl records were sold in the week ending on December 23rd in the US, marking vinyl’s biggest week in sales since 1991, Billboard reports. It is also the first time vinyl sales have exceeded two million units in decades. Kid Cudi just broke the record for the biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album with 41,500 in sales of his album 'Man on the Moon III: The Chosen'. However, the best-selling vinyl album in the past week was Adele‘s '30', which moved 59,000 copies.

Vinyl sales in the UK topped five million for the first time since 1991, BBC reports adding that almost a quarter of the albums bought this year (23%) were on vinyl. Abba's 'Voyage' was the biggest-seller, followed by Adele's '30', Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours', Ed Sheeran's '=', and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black'. This year marks vinyl's 14th consecutive year of growth, with sales up by 8% on 2020. Sales of CDs continued to fall - just 14 million discs were bought, a 12% drop compared to the previous year - the lowest figure since 1988. Cassette sales increased for a ninth consecutive year - around 190,000 tapes were purchased in the past 12 months, up by around 20% year on year.

Tyler, the Creator has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart as his latest studio offering, 'Call Me If You Get Lost' earned 169,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending July 1 in the US, according to Billboard. Of his sales, 114,000 came from streaming and 55,000 from official album sales, largely from deluxe box sets sold exclusively via the artist’s web-store. This is Tyler, the Creator's second No. 1 album - he previously hit No. 1 with his last album, 2019’s 'IGOR'.

Taylor Swift’s 6-months old album 'Evermore' returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 202,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 3, Billboard reports. Album sales comprise 192,000, marking the biggest sales week of 2021. Also, 'Evermore' broke the record for the biggest sales week for a vinyl album in the U.S. since tracking sales began in 1991. The vinyl edition of the album sold 102,000 in a week, smashing Jack White’s record set with 40,000 copies of 'Lazaretto' sold in June 2014. 'Evermore' was initially released digitally and through streamers on Dec. 11, 2020, but its vinyl edition was not issued until May 28.

Plenty of records set by Taylor Swift on Billboard 200 chart this week, according to Billboard. Re-recorded version of her 2008 album 'Fearless', titled 'Fearless (Taylor’s Version)' scores the biggest week of 2021 for any album with 291,000 equivalent albums. She's the first woman with three new No. 1 albums in less than a year - in August 'Folklore' debuted at No. 1 with 846,000 units, while 'Evermore' arrived at No. 1 in December with 329,000 units. 'Fearless (Taylor’s Version)' is the only No. 1 album of its kind: a re-recording of an artist’s (own or another’s) previously released album. Album sales of 'Fearless (Taylor's Version)' comprise 179,000, making it the top-selling album of the week. The three largest weeks for an album in the last eight months all Belong to Swift. She is also the first woman with three new No. 1 albums in less than a year. Swift also becomes the first woman in the 65-year history of the chart with three new No. 1s in less than 12 months; Donna Summer held that record since 1979/1980.

The radio has pretty much cancelled Morgan Wallen due to his racial slur scandal, but his album sales have seen an uptick, Billboard reports. His latest record 'Dangerous: The Double Album' continues to rule the Billboard 200 chart for a fifth straight week - it earned 150,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 11 (up 1%). Wallen’s previous set, 2018’s 'If I Know Me', reaches the top 10 for the first time with 29,000 equivalent album units earned, which also marks the album’s best weeks, in terms of units earned.

Morgan Wallen's racial slur scandal proved beneficial for his album sales in the US, the latest Billboard 200 chart shows. His double album 'Dangerous' earned 149,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 4, which is up 14% when compared to the previous week, Billboard reports. It is Walen's fourth week in a row on top of Billboard 200. The last country album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 on this chart was Shania Twain's 'Up!' in 2003.

There were 1.842 million LP’s sold in the US during the week leading up to Christmas, ending on December 24th, which made it the biggest week the format has had since 1991, Billboard reports. The previous record was achieved just a week prior, when 1.445 million vinyl records were sold between December 10th and December 17th. The top-selling vinyl album last week was Paul McCartney’s new solo effort 'III', which sold a 32,000 units, making it the third-largest sales week for a vinyl record since 1991.

A record number of 1.253 million vinyl albums were sold in the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3 in the U.S., enough for the largest sales week since 1991, when electronic tracking music sales began, Billboard reports. It’s only the second week in 39 years that weekly vinyl album sales surpassed 1 million - the last time it happened was a year ago when 1.243 million were sold in the week ending Dec. 26, 2019. Half of the sales is attributed to Record Store Day Black Friday festivities at independent record stores, as indie physical store sales accounted for 542,000 vinyl LPs sold in the week. The top-selling vinyl was Harry Styles’ 'Fine Line', with 15,000 copies sold.

Queen and Metallica earned more from album sales than anyone else last year, according to a brand new The Highest Paid Musicians of 2019 report. Queen topped the list for album sales with $9.6 million, thanks in part to a massive boost from the Academy Award-winning biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Metallica arrived at No. 2 with an estimated $3.6M from album sales.

There was a 103% increase in cassette sales in the UK in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, new figures from the Official Charts company show. 65,000 cassettes were purchased in the first half of 2020 and the figures are on course to top 100,000 for the first time since 2003. The best selling cassettes of 2020 were by 5 Seconds of Summer, Lady Gaga, The 1975, Selena Gomez and Dua Lipa. 5 Seconds of Summer’s ‘CALM’ sold 12,000 in the first week making it the fastest selling cassette in 18 years.

Lil Baby's 'My Turn' sits in the top spot of the Billboard 200 for the fourth week of 2020, with 70,000 in sales, Billboard reports. In the runner-up spot is Bob Dylan's 'Rough and Rowdy Ways', which scored him the highest spot that he's gotten to in more than a decade; it sold in 53,000 equivalent albums, most of which came from traditional album sales. Dylan has now become the first artist with a US Top 40 album in every decade since the 1960s. Teyana Taylor achieves her first top 10 album, as 'The Album' bows at No. 8 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned.

Lady Gaga scores her sixth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with the chart-topping debut of 'Chromatica', sold in 274,000 equivalent album units, the biggest week for any album by a woman in 2020, although she ceased promotion due to nationwide unrest over George Floyd's death, Billboard reports. 'Chromatica' album sales comprise 205,000, SEA units total 65,000 (equating to 87.16 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks in the week ending June 4) and TEA units equal a little more than 4,000. Also new at the top 10 on Billboard 200 are Jimmy Buffet who landed at No. 2 with 'Life on the Flip Side' - earned 75,000 equivalent album units, and Run The Jewels with 'RTJ40, bowing at No. 10 - 38,000 equivalent album units earned.

Country superstar Kenny Chesney tops the Billboard 200 chart for the ninth time with his latest album 'Here and Now', equaling Garth Brooks' record for the most No. 1s among country acts in the chart’s history, according to Billboard. Chesney's set earned 233,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., with the vast majority of it being actual album sales - 222,000. Drake's surprise-released 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes' opens at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 chart, with 223,000 equivalent album units earned. And a curiosity from this week's Billboard - post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance charted at No. 14 without the help of any physical sales; their new album 'Afterburner' ended up receiving the equivalent of 23,211 album sales from streaming in its first week, Loudwire reports.

The Weeknd's new album 'After Hours' earned 75,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the last week, making it a full month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first album to notch four consecutive weeks at No. 1 since Drake’s 'Scorpion' in 2018, Billboard reports. Also from Billboard, country music streaming hit a historic new high in the U.S., with a record 1.244 billion on-demand audio streams of songs in the genre in the previous week.

Dua Lipa, Sam Hunt, and The Weeknd are pop stars who decided to release their new albums despite the big lockdown. Lady Gaga, Haim, and Sam Smith have decided to wait. Dua Lipa said, as Variety reports, she "thought I’d be doing them a disservice to delay it, especially during this time”, while Lady Gaga said - “it just doesn’t feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic”. Whether to release an album or not depends on the genre also - hip-hop sells close to 100% in digital formats so there's a good chance of selling the album in expected numbers, while some older-demographic artists are still selling 70%-80% physical, and the records stores are closed... Tours are equally cancelled for both sides.

In the week ending March 19, overall album sales in the U.S. fell 29% to 1.52 million copies - the lowest such number since albums became a format in the mid-1960s, Billboard reports. The purchase of physical media (CDs, vinyl LPs and cassettes) also hit a low, as last week marked the first time ever that physical album sales fell below 1 million (just 979,000 copies sold, a dip of 36% to the week prior), the first time weekly physical album sales fell below 1 million in the Nielsen Music/MRC Data era. The lackluster sales numbers can be attributed to the shuttering of physical record stores across the country in addition to Amazon’s decision to cease stocking vinyl in favor of more “essential” items. Still, vinyl is the bright star of album sales - so far in 2020, total vinyl album sales stand at 4.88 million (up 42.2% year-to-date). Further, vinyl album sales comprise 22.6% of all albums sold in 2020, and 33% of all physical albums sold.

The best selling vinyl album in the 2010s in the USA was 'Abbey Road' by the Beatles, selling in 558,000 copies. In fact, all the biggest vinyl albums of the past 10 years are older performers like Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Miles Davis... Only two albums actually released in the 2010s appear on the list: the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' soundtrack - which is entirely comprised of songs released in the ’60s and ’70s, and Lana Del Rey’s 'Born to Die'. The only album from the noughties on the list is Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black'. No album from the 1990s on the list.

Last year's phenomenon Billie Eilish had the biggest-selling album of last year in the USA with 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' selling in 2.5 million total album-equivalent units in 2019, 400,000 more units than any other album.

154 million albums were either streamed, bought or downloaded the UK last year, the largest amount since 2006, when the figure stood at 161.4 million. The majority of sales (three quarters) were made through streaming - fans streamed 114 billion songs last year, a new record (1,000 streams generate one "sale"). Just three years ago, […]

A record number of 973,000 vinyl LPs was sold in the USA in week ending Dec. 19, marking the single biggest week for vinyl album sales since Nielsen Music began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. Vinyl album sales were so hot in the week ending Dec. 19, they comprised 25% of all albums sold […]

Twenty One Pilots finished on top of Billboards list of albums of last ten years with 'Blurryface' - their 2015 album sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide. Their mash-up of hip-hop, pop, reggae, and indie rock brought hits like 'Ride' and 'Stressed Out'. After 'Blurryface', the top selling rock albums of the last decade are […]

For the first time since 1986, vinyl records are on pace to outsell CDs this year - in the first half of 2019 vinyl sales made $224.1 million, comparatively, CDs yielded $247.9 million. Vinyl revenue grew 12.8% in the second half of 2018, and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019. The profits and […]

Cassette sales continued to rise in the UK in the first half of 2019 - 35,000 cassette sales were recorded between January and June, which is almost double the numbers sold in the same six-month period last year. However, cassette sales account for only 0.2% of album sales, against the 12% recorded with vinyl. The […]

Vampire Weekend sold 138,000 equivalent album of their third LP 'Father Of The Bride' last week in the USA, which makes it the biggest selling album in the country, and brings VW to the top of the Billboard 200. The sum represent the largest for any rock album in 2019. 'FOTB' earned 20.29 million on-demand audio […]

827,000 vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. in the week of Record Store Day, a record for the Record Store Day week and the third-largest sales week for vinyl albums since Nielsen Music started tracking sales in 1991. The only two larger weeks for vinyl album sales overall were logged during the Christmas season […]

South Korean boyband BTS have landed their first ever UK number one album with 'Map of the Soul: Persona', becoming the first Korean act to score a chart-topping album in the UK. Billie Eilish's 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' dropped to number two, while Chemical Brothers' ninth studio album 'No Geography' […]

Billie Eilish's new album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' debuts at No. 1 at U.K. album chart, becoming the youngest-ever female artist to top the U.K. chart. Her album sold in 48,000 units. At 17 years, three months and 18 days old, she is two months and ten days younger than […]

Canadian rapper NAV debuted at the top of Billboard 200 chart with his album 'Bad Habits', which was sold in 82,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 28. It's NAV's second album and the first one to top the American sales chart, Billboard reports. Listen to his song 'Price on my Head' here.

South Korean pop boy-band BTS has reportedly already sold over 2,6 million copies of it's new album 'Map of the Soul: Persona'. The septet’s upcoming album is said to have achieved this feat within five days of going on-sale March 13 for pre-orders ahead of its release on April 12, Billboard reports.