Record Store Day: Top 40 biggest selling albums from UK’s independent record shops

Happy Record Store Day 2015!

For the eighth year running, Record Store Day sees a raft of limited edition vinyl releases hitting your local independent record shops.

With some big names coming out on vinyl for the very first time, it’s the perfect day for any fans of the sweet, black plastic to feed their passion.

While you get your hands on this year’s fresh cuts, we take a look back at what you have been buying in your independent record shops since last year’s Record Store Day.

Who’s been getting your turntable in a spin or brightening up your CD deck over the last year? Before we show you the full Top 40, let’s have a look at the Top 5 record store stars.

1: Ed Sheeran – x

It’s only fitting that the top selling album of 2014 overall should also rule supreme in the Record Store chart of the last year. Since its release in June 2014, x has sold over two million copies in the UK and physical format devotees have just been as fond as the set as downloaders have been.

x has spent 12 weeks at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart and has left the Top 5 only once in an astonishing 42 weeks on the chart.

ChartFact: When it comes to getting physical, over 70% of x’s sales have come from CDs and vinyl. It also topped the first ever Official Albums Streaming Chart.

2: Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour

If we’re talking about album sales and Ed’s about, you know Sam Smith won’t be far away. The only album to sell over a million copies on both sides of the Atlantic in 2014, Sam’s polished debut is another LP that won’t budge from the Top 5 of the Official Albums Chart. Including six stints at Number 1 – a chart record for a male solo artist – In The Lonely Hour has spent 46 weeks on the Official Albums Chart, dipping out of the Top 5 only once.

ChartFact: 73% of In The Lonely Hour’s 1.65 million sales have been physical ones.

3: Pink Floyd – The Endless River

A sixth Number 1 album for the legendary rockers and their first chart-topping release in almost two decades, Pink Floyd’s return with this fifteenth and final saw fans flocking to their independent record shops to hear it on a physical format. The album had huge first-week sales across all formats – notching up a tally of almost 140,000 – and was the fastest-selling vinyl album of the century.

ChartFact: Almost 90% of The Endless River’s sales have been on physical format.

4: George Ezra – Wanted On Voyage

A second debut album in our Top 5, singer-songwriter George’s launch offering has spawned two Top 10 singles – including catchy hit Budapest – and spent 41 weeks in the Official Albums Chart so far. It hasn’t dipped out of the Top 10 once, and managed four weeks at Number 1 over three separate stints.

ChartFact: Wanted On Voyage has sold a whopping  964,000 copies – 71% of those have been physical sales.

5: Royal Blood – Royal Blood

Another debut album, and completing a very British Top 5, energetic newcomers Royal Blood scored the fastest-selling rock debut of 2014. 

Royal Blood won the BRIT Award for British Group and saw a surge in sales following their victory – an increase of 209%.

ChartFact: Over 60% of sales of Royal Blood’s debut have been physical.

Other notable entries

The highest placed female solo artist in our lineup is BRIT Award winner Paloma Faith. Her third album A Perfect Contradiction comes in eighth for the last year of independent record shop sales.

Arctic Monkeys’ AM, which is the bestselling vinyl album of the decade so far, edges into the Top 10 of the last 365 or so days. 

It’s not just guitar bands who are big in your local record store – pop has its place too. Along with Paloma at Number 8, other big pop acts making an impression on our Top 40 are global phenomena One Direction (15) and Taylor Swift (16). Olly Murs is right behind them with third album Never Been Better coming in at Number 17.

Here’s the full top 40 biggest selling albums in independent record shops since last year's Record Store Day: 

©2015 Official Charts Company . All rights reserved.