Most Popular Artists on Vinyl, According to Discogs - mentalfloss.com (The Smiths #8)

Thought this was interesting:


Though music streaming platforms may have supplanted physical media as the go-to way to play your favorite songs, plenty of people are still actively expanding their well-curated vinyl record collections. In fact, vinyl actually outsold CDs for the first time in decades back in late 2019.

In short, vinyl records are still surprisingly popular—and according to a new study from UK financial comparison service Money.co.uk, no one is more popular on vinyl than The Beatles. To come to that conclusion, the researchers crunched numbers from Discogs, an online music database and retailer where millions of users catalog and add to their own music collections across many formats. Each album’s page includes statistics showing how many Discogs users own it. So Money.co.uk took a look at that data for 1.3 million vinyl records and then ranked artists based on their aggregate totals.

The Beatles totaled more than 3.3 million, outpacing runner-up Pink Floyd by more than half a million. As for which Beatles album reigns supreme, the title goes to Abbey Road—not exactly surprising, as that album was also named the best-selling vinyl record of the past decade in 2020. The rest of the top 10 is pretty predictable, too. David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, and Queen rounded out the top five, and The Rolling Stones edged out Nirvana for the sixth spot. Elvis Presley came in tenth with more than 934,000 records on Discog users’s shelves.

While the study is far from a comprehensive look at all vinyl record sales throughout history, it’s a good indicator of which artists do really well on vinyl. You can see the full list below; and if it prompts you to thumb through your old boxes of records, that’s not a bad idea—some of them could be worth a fortune.

The Beatles // 3,369,578
Pink Floyd // 2,815,586
David Bowie // 2,178,928
Led Zeppelin // 1,879,600
Queen // 1,311,065
The Rolling Stones // 1,097,877
Nirvana // 1,075,811
The Smiths // 998,687
AC/DC // 957,002
Elvis Presley // 934,547
 
Louder than bombs seems to be her fave , and some indie music as well
And she loves William 😌

Funnily enough Baz, my youngest is into The Smiths/Morrissey, she was gutted when the Castlefield Bowl gigs were cancelled. Her favourite Smiths song is This Charming Man and her favourite Morrissey track is (bizarrely) My love I I'd do anything for you.
 
My youngest will listen to anything I even played classic FM in the car and she didn’t say anything.

I’m sure your daughter will enjoy the next Moz gig.
Has she seen him before?
 
My youngest will listen to anything I even played classic FM in the car and she didn’t say anything.

I’m sure your daughter will enjoy the next Moz gig.
Has she seen him before?

No, that's why she was so looking forward to Castlefield.
 
What I find fascinating about that list is that seven out of those ten acts are British. Actually, correction - seven out of ten of them are English (and the three non-English acts are in the bottom four). It really is bizarre/extraordinary how such a relatively small country has had such an enormous, disproportionate impact on the world's music.

Also interesting that the list of names is fairly evenly spread between 60s, 70s and 80s acts - giving the lie to the ridiculous notion some people have that the 1970s was some kind of golden era for music.
 
It is interesting, though, isn't it?

All of those artists, during their active years, sold massively more albums than The Smiths ever did. So The Smiths are really punching above their weight to be anywhere near the top 10 of a list like that...They've become a very powerful "legacy act" on vinyl.
Love the way you use "punching above their weight"..I believe the iconic Morrissey-curated sleeves somehow play a role in this popularity. What's your take?
 
I was in HMV the other day, All the best selling Vinyl was on display...
HOH was among the big sellers along with Oasis and the usual
Suspects ..
I work for hmv in Newcastle... HOH has always been a big seller for us , it was17.99 which is a decent price these days , then the dealer prices on loads of vinyl went up , and so the retail price increased to 27.99 , likewise for TQID ,
Still tick over but sales have slowed with the price increase ... loads of teens are buying Smiths albums nowadays , probs cos anxiety and social awkwardness seems to be an aspiration nowadays !!
 
I work for hmv in Newcastle... HOH has always been a big seller for us , it was17.99 which is a decent price these days , then the dealer prices on loads of vinyl went up , and so the retail price increased to 27.99 , likewise for TQID ,
Still tick over but sales have slowed with the price increase ... loads of teens are buying Smiths albums nowadays , probs cos anxiety and social awkwardness seems to be an aspiration nowadays !!
Shocking to know that a tenner can be slapped on a record just like
That. £17.99 is a fare price. But I wouldn’t go tho nearly £30
 

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