…is one of my favourite albums of all time and last Christmas I was very fortunate to see Ian Anderson ring out the solstice bells at Winchester Cathedral it was a surreal evening with the soothing tones of his flute wafting through the aisles whilst an impressive light show danced on the Cathedrals magnificent structures.

I very recently became aware that the Official Charts Company have again started publishing a chart for the Top 40 Vinyl Albums this follows a huge increase in vinyl sales over recent years with record pressing plants across Europe working 24/7 to keep up with demand the highest for 25 years. Even Sainsbury’s have cut themselves a piece of the action publishing a range of compilation albums through their own label although their biggest seller has been Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours one of the top 20 biggest sellers of all time yet only reaching the No1 spot in the UK for one week, a year after its release in 1978.

Re-discovering the vinyl chart and being a huge vinyl junkie myself, I wanted to know if there was a significant disparity between the Top 40 album All Sales Chart (vinyl, CDs, downloads and streams) and the Vinyl Top 40 chart.  I expected there to be some disparity but it is huge with only 8 albums in the Vinyl Chart present in the All Sales Chart last week by the way the charts are now published on a Friday and not on a Sunday which is a shame I have vivid memories jostling my family to be nearest to the radio every Sunday teatime when Alan Freeman excitedly counted down the famous singles chart…

…back to the present and yes only 8 albums in the Vinyl Album Chart make it in the All Sales Chart and even here there is a bit of a surprise with Noel Gallagher’s Who Built The Moon falling from No1 to No10 in the All Sales Chart but holding the No1 position in the Vinyl Chart ahead of Ed Sheeran’s Divide (Ed’s rendition is No1 in the All Sales Chart).

A big surprise to me, however, is that some of the albums in the Top 40 Vinyl Chart I just would not have expected to figure at… am I missing something!  Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix 1 and 2  a spin off from the Comic Book franchise are both top 20 sellers in the Vinyl Chart but do not figure in the All Sales Chart at all. I get that the albums contain many tracks from years gone so the younger demographic who love the films may not engage with the music but why do these albums not feature anywhere in the All Sales Chart? There are also a number of compilation albums in the vinyl chart too and again I would have expected these to be more popular on CD or streamed.

The usual suspects feature high up the Top 40 Vinyl Album Chart, Fleetwood Mac Rumours at No3, Pink Floyd Dark Side at No7, Oasis What’s The Story at No8 and Legacy by David Bowie at No10.  Albums by Nirvana, Amy Winehouse, Queen, Bob Marley, U2, ELO and The Beatles also figure Abbey Road is the only Beatles record to make it in the top 30 vinyl albums this week. Perhaps surprisingly, out of this mega hall of fame only U2 have an entry in the All Sales Album Chart.

Apologies for ending on a melancholy note but hearing Last Christmas by Wham is tinged with a big dollop of sadness this year following the loss of George Michael on Xmas Day last year for me George was one of the best contemporary singer/songwriters this country has produced so it is only fitting that Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 makes both the vinyl and all sales charts George Michael’s Twenty Five also Features highly in the all sales chart.

From me, Mark Soper, and all the team at RetireEasy we wish you a very Merry Xmas and a peaceful New Year.