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Record Store Day figures show that sales of physical singles through independent stores were more than double last year’s total and sales of albums were up 20 per cent.
Sales data from the Official Charts Company (OCC) indicates that Record Store Day 2011 on Saturday (April 16) reached a new high.
Record Store Day exclusives accounted for nine out of the Top 10 vinyl albums for the week, despite being on sale for just one day.
And eight out of the Top 10 physical singles this week are Record Store Day exclusives.
Record Store Day coordinator and manager of Rough Trade East – Spencer Hickman said: “Record Store Day has been an overwhelming success.
“It has struck a chord with artists, labels and music fans alike. It is now one of the most significant music events of the year.”
Around 180 stores took part in this year’s Record Store Day – 30 more than last year. There were around 250 exclusive releases only available in participating stores, more than double last year’s tally and more than 200 artists and bands played in record stores around the country.
Alan Jordan of Reflex in Newcastle said, “It was the best one yet. We sold twice as much as we did last year. The first customers started queuing at 4am. We had people drive here from Peterborough, Carlisle and Birmingham.”
Paul Mills of Soundclash, Norwich said, “The queues started at midnight. It was our busiest day ever in 20 years – 70% up on last year.”
Sandy Maclean of Love Music, Glasgow said, “There were 150 people queuing when we opened. We had to rejig the queue to stop them blocking the road. And it took four people serving four hours to clear the queue.”
Spencer Hickman added, “Record Store Day is a commercial event and when measured in those terms this year was clearly the biggest we have yet seen, but just as important as that is the positivity and love for record stores and the physical product that it creates
“We had 800 or so people in the queue at Rough Trade East and some people had to wait in line for three hours just to get through the doors, but my staff still managed to send them away happy.
“It was a genuinely festive experience. We had Chilly Gonzales play the opening set in the morning and watching him banter with the queue and get the entire shop singing along with him was the perfect start to the day.”
Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit played on Record Store Day at Edinburgh’s Avalanche store. Lead singer Scott Hutchison said, “For me, it’s places like Avalanche that I was most proud to see my records on the shelves of, because it meant something to me from before I was properly in a band, to now, just being a record buyer and a music lover which I still am.
“I have always thought places like this were the coolest places on earth. It was amazing when I finally got my record in there and I think they still play an essential role. I’ve been to cities where nobody would ever have heard of us if it wasn’t for this one really enthusiastic guy who works in a wee record store telling all his customers about Frightened Rabbit.”