The cassette comeback continues: sales are at their highest in 15 years

31 July 2019 | By Rob Copsey

 

We reveal the best-selling cassettes of the decade and of 2019 so far.

 

The unlikely comeback of the humble cassette continues to grow in 2019, with sales at their highest since 2004, OfficialCharts.com can reveal.

 

Spurred on by the vinyl revival, music buyers are steadily returning to the cassette for its retro appeal, collectability and its novelty value. The format’s return coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Sony Walkman this month, celebrated in a new exhibition at the Sony museum in Tokyo, which runs until September 1.

 

Sales remain small in the context of the overall music market according to music industry trade body the BPI, representing a miniscule 0.2% of albums sold in the UK this year, but sales are on a small-but-steady increase, so far up 112% year-on-year. The final quarter of 2018 was also the biggest for cassette sales in the UK since 2004 and so far in 2019 36,000 have been sold according to the BPI and Official Charts Company data.

 

Looking down the Top 20 best-sellers on the year to date below, it’s clear cassette sales favour those artists who have harnessed a fanbase of avid collectors, regardless of genre.

The current biggest is Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. The cassette, which has sold 4,000 copies, was released in a variety of limited-edition colours: black, orange and UV green. Ironically, cassettes were considered all-but-defunct when 17-year-old Billie was born in 2001.

 

Cassette sales by calendar year since 2004

 

Other ‘big’ sellers this year are Catfish & The Bottlemen’s third album The Balance, Madonna’s Madame X, Kylie’s Step Back In Time and Lewis Capaldi’s chart-topping debut Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.

 

Looking at the best-sellers of the decade (since 2010), The 1975 are on top with their 2018 Number 1 record A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, with 8,000 sales. Just over 7,000 of those sales were in its first week, making it the fastest-seller on the format since July 2002.

 

Another popular release is the Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtracks, which appear at 2 and 4 on the decade chart. Inspired by the films, the first collection of ‘80s classics was released in 2014, playing a significant role in spearheading the format’s return. They’ve sold 6,800 and 6,100 on cassette respectively.

 

Kylie Minogue is also a big seller on the vintage platform, shifting 6,300 tapes of her Number 1 album Golden. Following its initial release, Kylie also released a Collector's Edition and a Winter Collector's Edition on cassette. The singer’s recent chart-topping best of, Step Back In Time, places tenth.

 

The Official Top 20 best-selling cassettes in the UK since 2010

POSITION TITLE ARTIST

1 A BRIEF INQUIRY INTO ONLINE 1975 8k

2 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 6.8k

3 GOLDEN KYLIE MINOGUE 6.3k

4 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 6.1k

5 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO BILLIE EILISH 4k

6 THE BALANCE CATFISH & THE BOTTLEMEN

7 MADAME X MADONNA

8 NO TOURISTS PRODIGY

9 SHE - THE BEST OF CHARLES AZNAVOUR

10 STEP BACK IN TIME - THE DEFINITIVE KYLIE MINOGUE

11 DIVINELY UNINSPIRED TO A HELLISH EXTENT LEWIS CAPALDI

12 SWEETENER ARIANA GRANDE

13 WASTELAND BABY HOZIER

14 HAPPINESS BEGINS JONAS BROTHERS

15 BLOSSOMS BLOSSOMS

16 RIPPLES IAN BROWN

17 MAPPING THE RENDEZVOUS COURTEENERS

18 DELTA MUMFORD & SONS

19 SUCKER PUNCH SIGRID

20 143 BARS & MELODY

 

The Official Top 20 best-selling cassettes in the UK of 2019 so far

POSITION TITLE ARTIST

1 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO BILLIE EILISH 4k

2 THE BALANCE CATFISH & THE BOTTLEMEN

3 MADAME X MADONNA

4 STEP BACK IN TIME - THE DEFINITIVE KYLIE MINOGUE

5 DIVINELY UNINSPIRED TO A HELLISH EXTENT LEWIS CAPALDI

6 WASTELAND BABY HOZIER

7 HAPPINESS BEGINS JONAS BROTHERS

8 RIPPLES IAN BROWN

9 SUCKER PUNCH SIGRID

10 SHINE A LIGHT BRYAN ADAMS

11 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

12 THE VERSACE EXPERIENCE PRELUDE 2 GOLD PRINCE

13 MY HAPPY PLACE EMMA BUNTON

14 THANK U NEXT ARIANA GRANDE

15 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

16 FATHER OF THE BRIDE VAMPIRE WEEKEND

17 FALSE ALARM TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

18 A BRIEF INQUIRY INTO ONLINE 1975

19 AMO BRING ME THE HORIZON

20 BIG BAD GIGGS

Bars & Melody sneaking in there :lol:

I get the vinyl revival, but cassette? I would never buy one.

 

It’s like having a VHS revival.

I get the vinyl revival, but cassette? I would never buy one.

 

It’s like having a VHS revival.

 

Probably a nostalgia thing. I bet most people don't have anything to play them on any more :lol:

A lot of them come with bundles as well.

they're not even cheap, Lana del Rey is selling them for 8.99 pounds... she's made two different ones, clear and lime green :o and yes lots of bundles cd + cassette, vinyl + cassette, cd+vinyl+cassette

Suprised kylie didnt take this with all her cassette limited editions :lol:

9 SHE - THE BEST OF CHARLES AZNAVOUR

 

This is the real oddity of the top 20 tapes since 2010. Why is it that a 1996 Greatest Hits album, that presumably hasn't got a re-release on tape in the past 10 years, sold so well on the format? Would be interesting to get to the bottom of this - perhaps it is one single store that bought thousands of them by accident and couldn't return them, so have been slowly dwindling down their collection over the years with some very targeted marketing.