U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Surge After Walmart Sale & Debut of Taylor Swift’s ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’

Weekly U.S. vinyl album sales surged past 1 million copies for the first time in four months, thanks in large part to sale pricing and promotion at Walmart stores for a selection of titles, as well as the Nov. 12 release of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version).

In the week ending Nov. 18, there were 1.06 million vinyl albums sold in the U.S. according to MRC Data – an increase of 52% compared the previous week (697,000). It’s the ninth time vinyl album sales have exceeded 1 million copies in a single week since MRC Data began electronically tracking sales in 1991, and all of the million-selling weeks have happened since 2019. It last occurred in the week ending July 22, following Record Store Day 2021’s second drop on July 17.

During the tracking week ending Nov. 18, Walmart stores promoted 25 different vinyl albums for just $15 each – all of which were exclusive variants to Walmart. Among the titles: the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (on purple-colored vinyl), Michael Jackson’s Dangerous (a double-LP set on silver-colored vinyl) and Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman (on blue swirl-colored vinyl).

Collectively, the 25 albums that were part of Walmart’s promotion sold 140,000 copies in the week ending Nov. 18 (up 709% from just 17,000 sold the week previous) – across all of their various vinyl editions at all retailers (including the Walmart-only variants). It’s likely most of those sales were driven by the Walmart-exclusive editions.

Also helping vinyl album sales in the week ending Nov. 18: the arrival of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version), with 114,000 copies sold (the single-largest sales week for a vinyl album since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991).

All told, more than half of the titles on Billboard’s 25-position Vinyl Albums chart (dated Nov. 27) were part of Walmart’s $15 vinyl sale. Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1.

The Vinyl Albums chart ranks the top-selling vinyl albums of the week in the U.S.