Cassette singles are back!

Believe it or not, the sales of cassette singles in the UK almost tripled during 2012. Here’s why...

If you’ve been following @OfficialCharts on Twitter on this afternoon, you’ll have seen the flurry of excitement surrounding this tweet:

After a stampede of guesses from curious fans of retro pop, including such attempts as Mr Blobby? Michelle McManus? Fast Food Rockers? Aqua? A Thomas The Tank Engine audio book? we put you out of your eager misery with this tweet:

That’s right, the Official Charts Company track sales of recorded music in the UK seven days a week, 365 days a year, covering a whopping 99% of the singles market, EVEN CASSETTES! And now, according to this eye-popping treasure trove of data collected daily from music retailers the length and breadth of the country, we can confirm that the market for cassette singles, or ‘cassingles’ tripled in 2012, from 218 to a grand total of 604 copies.

And what/who was responsible for this, might you ask? Feeder.

The London-based rockers released their single Borders (which peaked at Number 52 on the Official Singles Chart) on CD, cassette and 7” in January of 2012, taken from their then forthcoming eighth studio album Generation Freakshow (which peaked at Number 13 on the Official Albums Chart last year). It was the first time that Feeder had released a cassette single since 2001’s Just A Day.

Cassette sales of Borders scooped up by collectors and fans of the band totalled 480 copies last year, meaning that Grant Nicholas and co accounted for nearly 80% of the UK cassette singles market in 2012!

Over on the albums side of things, 3,823 cassette albums were sold in the UK in 2012, with the best seller being French singer Charles Aznavour’s She – The Best Of.

So there you have it, Feeder, who first charted at Number 60 in 1997 with Tangerine, and whose highest charting career singles were 2001’s Buck Rogers (Number 5) and 2005’s Tumble And Fall (also Number 5), have almost single-handedly tripled the cassette singles market in 2012.

In related news, ever wondered whether people still by those MiniDisc things? We can reveal that a very polite 270 albums were sold on MiniDisc on these shores in 2012.

Take these chart facts and use them wisely, pop fans!

If you're not already, make sure you're following @OfficialCharts on Twitter for more brilliant chart facts!