Strikingly, total album sales in all formats (CD, digital album, vinyl LP, cassettes, etc.) had the smallest annual decline since 2015. In 2020, total album sales fell by 9.2% to 102.4 million – the first time annual sales fell by less than 10% since 2015, when volume fell by just 6% (helped by big sales for Adele’s) 25 album).
Total album sales have been steadily declining since 2012, as consumers increasingly turn to streaming services to enjoy music.
Vinyl LP sales accounted for more than a quarter of album sales in 2020: 26.9% (27.54 million out of 102.4 million). In particular, vinyl LP sales accounted for a solid 40.5% of all physical albums sold in the US by 2020 (27.54 million out of 68.01 million). Both sums are a recording of MRC Data records for the share of vinyl in the album sales park.
In 2020, there were a total of 51 albums that sold at least 50,000 copies on vinyl – compared to just 23 in 2019.
TOP 10 SALE VINYL ALBUMS OF 2020 IN US
Harry Styles, Find ago (232 000)
Billie Eilish, If we all fall asleep, where are we going?? (196 000)
3. The Queen, Biggest hits (176 000)
4. The Beatles, Abbey road (161,000)
5. Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 (152,000)
6. Bob Marley and The Wailers, Legend: the best of … (148,000)
7. Fleetwood Mac, Rumors (138,000)
Billie Eilish, Do not smile at me (126,000)
9. Michael Jackson, Thriller (125 000)
Kendrick Lamar, Good kid, MAAD City (117 000)
Source: MRC Data, for the detection period from 3 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.
Of the total vinyl LP sales in 2020, a leading 11.24 million took place via the non-traditional sector, which includes Internet-based retailers (Amazon, etc.), Mail Order and direct-to-consumer sales (such as a artist’s official) (web shop). The total number of non-traditional vinyl LP sales grew by 52.5% in 2020, up from 7.37 million in 2019.
Despite COVID-19 complications that caused many physical record stores to be reminded of how they did business in 2020, the second largest seller of vinyl albums was independent record stores, with 10.94 million sales (45.6% higher) . The number is likely due to the four separate Record Store Day (RSD) promotions in 2020 at indie stores (three RSD drops, along with RSD Black Friday).
Mass retailers, such as Target and Walmart, were the third largest seller of vinyl in 2020, with 3.81 million sales (an increase of 98.5%). The huge increase in retailers is due to the continued expansion of Target and Walmart in the vinyl market over the past few years, with both retailers dedicating more square footage to in-store wines and selling their own exclusive variants of vinyl LPs.