No Surprise: Adele’s 25 Tops #Vinyl Sales in 2015

If anyone expected anything different, they haven’t been paying attention.

Released on November 20, with just over a month left in 2015, Adele’s new album, 25, smashed all kinds of sales records and benchmarks in the first week of availability. It makes perfectly good sense, then that the album was the biggest selling piece of vinyl, at least in Canada, for all of last year.

Here’s the top 20, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data  Systems, with commentary from Alan Cross:

1. 25, Adele (6,200 copies–in just six weeks, too)
2. 1989, Taylor Swift (6,000)
3. X, Ed Sheeran (4,800)
4. AM, Arctic Monkeys (3,800)
5. In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith (3,700)
6. Abbey Road, Beatles (3,300–a perennial favourite)
7. Hozier, Hozier (3,200)
8. Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd  (3,200–another evergreen release)
9. Wilder Mind, Mumford & Sons (3,000)
10. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin (2,600–the recent series of reissues helped)
11. Legend, Bob Marley & The Wailers (2,400–HIGHLY recommend)
12. Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis (2,400–if you’re to own just one jazz album, this is it.)
13. Nevermind, Nirvana (2,300)
14. Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey (2,200–a mild surprise, if I’m honest.)
15. If I Should Go Before You, City And Colour (2,200)
16. Dream Your Life Away, Vance Joy (2,100)
17. Guardians Of The Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1, Various artists (2,100)
18. Honeymoon, Lana Del Rey (2,100–another one?)
19. Chronicles, Creedence Clearwater Revival (2,000–a great analogue recording)
20. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beatles (2,000–everyone needs a copy)

Other chart leaders in 2015:

Top 20 On-Demand Streaming (January 2015 – December 2015)

Title/Artist Streams (in millions)

1 Uptown Funk / Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars 60.0

2 See You Again / Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth 47.6

3 Cheerleader / Sia 44.6

4 Lean On / Major Lazer & DJ Snake 42.9

5 Thinking Out Loud / Ed Sheeran 41.1

6 What Do You Mean? / Justin Bieber 38.2

7 Hello / Adele 38.1

8 Trap Queen / Fetty Wap 36.6

9 Can’t Feel My Face / The Weeknd 36.0

10 The Hills / The Weeknd 35.6

Top 20 Video On-Demand Streaming (January 2015 – December 2015)

Title/Artist Streams (in millions)

1 Uptown Funk / Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars 50.9

2 See You Again / Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth 37.6

3 Thinking Out Loud / Ed Sheeran 31.7

4 Cheerleader / Omi 30.4

5 Shake It Off / Taylor Swift 27.1

6 Hello / Adele 26.4

7 Lean On / Major Lazer & DJ Snake 26.2

8 Blank Space / Taylor Swift 25.6

9 Trap Queen / Fetty Wap 25.4

10 Sugar / Maroon 5 24.9

Overall Streaming Core Genre Breakdown (Jan. 2015 – December 2015)

Rock – 25.7%

Pop – 24.6%

R&B/Hip-Hop – 21.5%

Dance/Electronic – 8.9%

Country – 5.6%

On-Demand Streaming Core Genre Breakdown (Jan. 2015 – December 2015)

Rock – 25.6%

Pop – 24.7%

R&B/Hip-Hop – 21.6%

Dance/Electronic – 8.9%

Country – 5.4%

To read the whole report, go here.

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