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The UK's Official Top 40 fastest-selling vinyl albums of the century
27 March 2021 | By Jack White

Not even a nationwide lockdown could slow down the vinyl revival, with vinyl record sales climbing for the 13th consecutive year in the UK in 2020, and UK vinyl spending is set to overtake CD in 2021 for the first time since 1987.

This week saw another incredible vinyl record broken as Lana Del Rey's fifth Number 1 album Chemtrails Over The Country Club became the fastest-selling vinyl of the century by a female artist. Notching up 16,700 copies on wax, the album also holds claim to the biggest week one vinyl total for an international act since 2000.

Lana is the prime example of an artist whose fans consume her music on vinyl and via streaming symbiotically. Her fanbase want to have her music with them on the go, but also appreciate a tangible product they can cherish as part of a collection. Luckily for them, Lana had ten variants of Chemtrails available ranging from a Spotify-exclusive picture disc to colours unique to her webstore.

To put into context how impressive modern day vinyl volumes are, just one 90s album - released post-1994 when digital chart records began - shifted over 10,000 vinyl units in its opening week, Oasis' (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. In the last five years, 14 albums have shifted five figures week one.

Speaking of Oasis, Liam Gallagher is the only solo artist to have had an album fly off the physical and virtual shelves quicker than Lana since the turn of the millennium; his Number 1 album Why Me? Why Not sold 17,000 copies in the first seven days following its release. Liam actually makes the most appearances on the list, three, with his debut solo album As You Were ranking fourth, and his chart-topping live album MTV Unplugged occupying 14th.

Topping the list with an unprecedented 24,500 vinyl sales in its first week of release is Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino from Arctic Monkeys. In addition to the standard black edition, the album had a silver webstore exclusive, indie retailers were stocking a clear variant, plus a gold pressing limited to 2,044 copies, available solely in pop-up shops in Yorkshire in the days following the album release. 2020 charity album Live at the Royal Albert Hall finishes in sixth.

Aside from Arctic Monkeys, a further five artists also take out two spots on the list. It was Kylie Minogue who Lana Del Rey surpassed for the female/international artist records; her 2020 history-maker DISCO bops at Number 8, and 2018's Golden yee-haws at Number 35.

Other acts doubling-up include The 1975 with A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships (20) and Notes On A Conditional Form (26), Foals with Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 (32) and Part 1 (33), and Bruce Springsteen with Letter To You (39) and Western Stars (40).

The UK's Official Top 40 fastest-selling vinyl albums since 2000
POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR
1 TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL & CASINO ARCTIC MONKEYS 2018 24,478
2 WHY ME WHY NOT LIAM GALLAGHER 2019 17,075
3 CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB LANA DEL REY 2021 16,705
4 AS YOU WERE LIAM GALLAGHER 2017 16,164
5 ULTRA MONO IDLES 2020 15,400
6 LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL ARCTIC MONKEYS 2020 14,656
7 DIVIDE ED SHEERAN 2017 13,546
8 DISCO KYLIE MINOGUE 2020 13,510
9 WHO BUILT THE MOON NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS 2017 12,809
10 BLACKSTAR DAVID BOWIE 2016 12,090
11 POWER UP AC/DC 2020
12 MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT FOO FIGHTERS 2021 10,500
13 A MOON SHAPED POOL RADIOHEAD 2016 10,504
14 MTV UNPLUGGED LIAM GALLAGHER 2020 10,063
15 A HERO'S DEATH FONTAINES DC 2019
16 FINE LINE HARRY STYLES 2020 9,419
17 FOLKLORE TAYLOR SWIFT 2020
18 MCCARTNEY III PAUL MCCARTNEY 2020
19 CHROMATICA LADY GAGA 2020 8,500
20 A BRIEF INQUIRY INTO ONLINE THE 1975 2018 8,286
21 HYPERSONIC MISSILES SAM FENDER 2019 8,210
22 A CELEBRATION OF ENDINGS BIFFY CLYRO 2020 7,957
23 WHO THE WHO 2019
24 EVERYTHING YOU'VE COME TO EXPECT THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS 2016 7,271
25 DIVINELY UNINSPIRED TO A HELLISH EXTENT LEWIS CAPALDI 2019 7,206
26 NOTES ON A CONDITIONAL FORM THE 1975 2020 7,000
27 LOW IN HIGH SCHOOL MORRISSEY 2017 6,766
28 ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS BOB DYLAN 2020
29 THE ENDLESS RIVER PINK FLOYD 2014 6,624
30 EVERYDAY LIFE COLDPLAY 2019
31 VILLAINS QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE 2017
32 EVERYTHING NOT SAVED WILL BE LOST - PT 2 FOALS 2019 6,429
33 EVERYTHING NOT SAVED WILL BE LOST - PT 1 FOALS 2019 6,421
34 THE BONNY GERRY CINNAMON 2020 6,400
35 GOLDEN KYLIE MINOGUE 2018 6,398
36 WEIRD YUNGBLUD 2020 6,314
37 ON SUNSET PAUL WELLER 2020
38 HOW DID WE GET SO DARK ROYAL BLOOD 2017 6,199
39 LETTER TO YOU BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 2020
40 WESTERN STARS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 2019 6,053

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

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