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Sales of vinyl have soared after record stores re-opened for the first time since lockdown.
According to data from the Official Charts Company, sales over the past week reached the highs of pre-COVID-19.
Vinyl sales surged by 27.57% week-on-week to a total of 88,486 units, while CDs also experienced a rise of 11.09% to 253,779 units.
Liam Gallagher‘s No.1 ‘MTV Unplugged’ album led sales after shifting 17,938 units, followed by the reissue of Manic Street Preachers’ ‘Gold Against The Soul’ with 2,838 physical sales.
Overall, physical sales accounted for 19.1% of the overall albums market across the past week, a three-month high.
It comes after Rough Trade confirmed that they would be re-opening their record stores from Tuesday, June 16. Sales had been processed solely online since the UK lockdown was implemented back in March.
Banquet Records in Kingston, however, have made the decision to remain closed despite the lifting of restrictions, reasoning that “record shops are all about browsing”. Banquet have instead set up a Click & Collect system, allowing their customers to pick up their orders in the shop’s car park.
Earlier this month, the organisers of Record Store Day announced a list of special releases that will be available during this year’s socially distanced event. RSD 2020 was initially postponed to June 20 due to the coronavirus crisis, but was subsequently delayed once more and spread over three separate days.
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