Arctic Monkeys top sales as vinyl albums break 1M mark

New generation of music fans and a potent mix of iconic and acclaimed new Rock bands, such as Royal Blood, helping to drive the revival. Pink Floyd's 'The Endless River' claims the highest first week sales of any vinyl album since 1997

Annual sales of vinyl albums have exceeded the one-million mark for the first time since the Britpop era of the 90s according to Official Charts data released today by the BPI – the trade body which represents the nation's record labels.

The milestone was achieved at the weekend. The figure is already comfortably ahead of the 780,674 sales posted in 2013, and with the key Christmas trading period still to come, it's likely the final total for 2014 will rise towards a figure of 1.2m unit sales – a level of vinyl consumption not seen since 1996, when 1,083,206 LPs were purchased.

The best-selling vinyl album of the year to date is 'AM' by Arctic Monkeys, although the current Official Vinyl Chart No.1 for this landmark week is, perhaps fittingly, the David Bowie best of – 'Nothing Has Changed', just ahead of Pink Floyd's first album in 20 years, 'The Endless River' – last week's No.1 album, whose first week vinyl sales of over 6,000 copies are the highest of any LP released since 1997, making it the fastest-selling vinyl album this century.

Official Vinyl Albums Chart – current top 10 artist albums (w/e 22 November 2014):

Position Title Artist
1 NOTHING HAS CHANGED - THE VERY BEST OF DAVID BOWIE
2 THE ENDLESS RIVER PINK FLOYD
3 SONIC HIGHWAYS FOO FIGHTERS
4 AVONMORE BRYAN FERRY
5 FOUR SYMBOLS LED ZEPPELIN
6 SUN RESTRUCTURED TEMPLES
7 X ED SHEERAN
8 ABATTOIR BLUES/THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
9 AQUOSTIC - STRIPPED BARE STATUS QUO
10 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS

Source: Official Charts Company

Official Vinyl Albums Chart – year-to-date top 10 artist albums (w/e 22 November 2014):

Position Title Artist
1 AM ARCTIC MONKEYS
2 LAZARETTO JACK WHITE
3 THE ENDLESS RIVER PINK FLOYD
4 ROYAL BLOOD ROYAL BLOOD
5 DEFINITELY MAYBE OASIS
6 THE STONE ROSES STONE ROSES
7 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD
8 LED ZEPPELIN LED ZEPPELIN
9 LED ZEPPELIN 3 LED ZEPPELIN
10 LED ZEPPELIN 2 LED ZEPPELIN

Source: Official Charts Company

Official Vinyl Albums Chart – 1996 top 10 artist albums:

Position Title Artist
1 THE SCORE FUGEES
2 1977 ASH
3 (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? OASIS
4 SECOND TOUGHEST IN THE INFANTS UNDERWORLD
5 EXPECTING TO FLY BLUETONES
6 ANTHOLOGY 2 BEATLES
7 ENDTRODUCING..... DJ SHADOW
8 ARKHAM ASYLUM SASHA
9 ANTHOLOGY 3 BEATLES
10 K KULA SHAKER

Source: Official Charts Company

Official Vinyl Albums Chart – album sales 1994 – 2014 *

LP Sales Share of Market
1994 1,453,718 2.2%
1995 1,410,905 1.6%
1996 1,083,206 1.0%
1997 817,018 0.7%
1998 642,102 0.5%
1999 672,866 0.6%
2000 751,857 0.6%
2001 761,558 0.5%
2002 657,127 0.4%
2003 579,248 0.4%
2004 453,254 0.3%
2005 351,224 0.2%
2006 250,926 0.2%
2007 205,292 0.1%
2008 208,526 0.2%
2009 219,449 0.2%
2010 234,471 0.2%
2011 337,041 0.3%
2012 388,768 0.4%
2013 780,674 0.8%
2014 1,200,000 * 2.0% *

* projected tbc / Source: Official Charts Company