National Album Day gives album sales an extra spin

24 October 2024 - Press release

 

• Vinyl market up 17% on the previous week and 9% on the previous year's National Album Day; reflecting nearly 50 titles reissued exclusively for NAD and more than 60k LPs sold across the Friday/Saturday

• National Album Day titles account for 1 in 5 albums sold and occupy more than half of the weekend's top 40 vinyl chart, including 6 of the Top 10 and 11 of the Top 20

• Biggest-ever Radio 2 support, including programming takeover, Johnny Marr's Great British Groups series, and a listener poll of greatest ever British groups, topped by The Beatles

• UK-wide events incl. Classic Album Sundays in conversation with Suede and St. Etienne, and hmv Oxford Street hosting a marathon six-hour signing by Jeff Wayne for War of the Worlds.

 

In what is proving a strong year for physical-format sales, Official Charts Company data reveals that the UK albums market enjoyed a further boost this weekend with vinyl LP sales rising 17% over the previous week and 42% on the prior Saturday thanks to around 50 re-issues of popular and classic albums released exclusively by record labels to tie in with this year's National Album Day theme of Great British Groups.

National Album day titles accounted for 1 in every 5 albums bought and just over half the 40 biggest-selling vinyl titles in the Official Vinyl Chart over last weekend , led by The Beatles A Hard Day's Night, Take That Everything Changes, Suede Dog Man Star, and self-titled albums by All Saints and The Specials in the Top-10.

This seventh edition of the annual event dedicated to celebrating the 'art of the album' and encouraging engagement with the album format, was held on Saturday 19th October, organised jointly by record labels body the BPI, and ERA, the UK's digital entertainment and retail association, in partnership with BBC Radio 2, and the wider music industry. 

The day and week's build up marked this year's theme with an extensive programme of activity. Much of this focused on Radio 2, which dedicated its output across the day to National Album Day and Great British groups.

Nearly 50 album titles, including the iconic Beatles LP A Hard Day's Night, were reissued exclusively for National Album Day across 18th/19th October, supported by artist Album Champions Catherine Marks, The Courteeners, Jeff Wayne, Maximo Park, Nova Twins, Shed Seven, Soul II Soul, and Travis, while Brett Anderson and Mat Osman of Suede discussed their acclaimed sophomore album Dog Man Star, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, with Classic Album Sundays. 

A diverse range of activities took place, including: PPL data celebrating Coldplay as the most played British group this century; a Radio 2 listener vote revealing The Beatles as their ultimate British group; BPI research by Paul Williams, based on Official Charts data, confirming Manchester as the UK's top destination for launching chart-topping groups; ERA Street VoxPops shared across NAD TikTok and Instagram channels; and LNER creating a bespoke route map highlighting groups from each of their mainline cities, and with Maximo Park making a live performance in Newcastle station. 

There were Classic Album Sundays events with Suede and St. Etienne, and a Pitchblack Playback session celebrating 45 years of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk.  Additionally retail instore events took place across independent stores and hmv, whose Oxford Street store hosted a marathon six-hour signing session by Jeff Wayne of his cult album War of the Worlds. The day also saw a Handel Hendrix House guitar session, live promoter Kilimanjaro celebrating NAD with The Pretenders live in Hull; and selected recording studios, including Metropolis, opening up for visits, in association with MPG.

 

A Spokesperson for National Album Day said:
"National Album Day continues to grow in popularity, with more fans exploring or reacquainting themselves with classic recordings, and a breadth of artists engaging with the artform to tell their authentic stories. This year, there were more LP titles reissued by record labels than ever and even greater support from our valued broadcast partner Radio 2 and from album platforms such as Classic Album Sundays and from the UK-wide music retail community.  Our thanks to all of them and to everyone who made the day a success."