Sales of ‘old albums’ have overtaken sales of ‘new albums’ for the first time in the US, reports NME.
In the last six months, just under 3 million more ‘old albums’ – records which have been on sale for more than 18 months – have been sold compared with new releases.
Figures obtained by OC Weekly have 76.6 million ‘old albums’ being sold over the last six months, with sales of ‘new albums’ listed at 73.9 million.
American chart analysts Nielsen have Whitney Houston and Guns N Roses‘ Greatest Hits records as the highest ‘old album’ sellers, while Adele‘s worldwide chart-topper 21 is easily the biggest seller in the ‘new albums’ category.
Nielsen analyst David Bakula believes the reason for the change in sales habits is that record labels and retailers have continued to drop the price of older albums, which has attracted new customers.
“I really, truly do believe that there probably is a consumer that is buying music here that wasn’t buying music in the past,” he said.
