Article from January 2011 "ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE"
**Vinyl Sales Increase Despite Industry Slump**
Arcade Fire, Black Keys and the Beatles lead in LP sales
Win Butler of Arcade Fire performs live on stage at O2 Arena on December 1, 2010 in London, England.
Jim Dyson/Getty
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By Matthew Perpetua
January 6, 2011 4:35 PM ET
Though overall album sales dropped 13 percent in 2010, sales of vinyl increased by 14 percent over the previous year, with around 2.8 million units sold. This is a new record for vinyl sales since 1991, when the format had all but disappeared in the wake of the CD boom, according to a report released yesterday by Nielsen SoundScan.
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Unsurprisingly, the artists who sell best in vinyl are classic rock acts and indie bands. The best selling vinyl artists in 2010 were the Beatles, the Black Keys, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Jimi Hendrix, the National and Pavement. Pink Floyd, Metallica and Bob Dylan were also top sellers in the format.
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The top selling new albums on vinyl were the Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, the Black Keys' Brothers, Vampire Weekend's Contra and the National's High Violet. The overall bestselling vinyl album in 2010 was the Beatles' Abbey Road — which of course was originally released in 1969.
But overall, the music industry's sales trends are worrisome. Overall music sales — albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks — were down 2.4 percent from 2009, and total album sales — CDs, cassettes, vinyl and digital albums — were down 12.7 percent.
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