Vinyl countdown as Tesco lines up more LP sales

Tesco’s comeback may be far from complete but it is trying to recapture its mid-Nineties glory years in another way by extending sales of vinyl records following recent trials which saw it flog Iron Maiden’s latest release.
Included in the newly expanded 20 LP range will be the new Coldplay album released on December 4 (pictured), the latest George Ezra and David Gilmour albums as well as some all-time classics.
These include Bruce Springsteen, Born In The USA; Bob Marley’s Greatest Hits; Foo Fighters Greatest Hits; The Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s; The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers; Radiohead, The Bends and Elvis Presley, 30 Number Ones.
The retailer claims the move is significant as in the last few years the vinyl album revival has been gaining momentum, year on year with sales up by more than 50 per cent in 2014.
Tesco music buyer Michael Mulligan said: “Our trial selling vinyl this summer was a real success with all our stock selling out and this really proved to us just how popular the vinyl album format is again with music fans.
“Vinyl is definitely coming back with demand growing stronger year by year and we think there will be a big demand in the UK this Christmas as music fans look for trendy gifting options.
“We have brought in vinyl albums for everyone – from new releases for established collectors to absolute classics for younger fans and for mums and dads who might have worn out their original copies the first time round.
“By also selling record decks we are helping customers who are looking to start their own vinyl album collection.”
After bottoming out at just over 205,000 vinyl albums in 2007, UK sales have grown every year since and in 2014 reached almost 1.3 million – the highest annual total since 1995.
Vinyl albums have bucked the downward sales trend in the last year of other music formats such as CDs which fell by 6.5% and downloads which dropped by nearly 9%.
The only other music format in growth is streaming which grew by 78% in 2014.
Tesco began selling record decks last Christmas and demand has been so strong that it now stocks 12 different models, ranging in price from £40 to £140.

TOPICS:Tesco