The world’s a pretty fucked up place these days. You’ve got ice caps melting on either pole, you’ve got more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined — and now, apparently, you’ve got more people buying cassette tapes than healthcare plans. (Actually don’t quote us on that last one).
That’s sorta right, though: according to data released by Nielsen Music Ratings (and published by The Hollywood Reporter), total cassette sales reached nearly 175,000 copies in 2017, which is up from the roughly 130,000 copies that were sold in 2016.
The spike in sales was apparently attributed to the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie (as well as the Stranger Things Netflix series), but we’re still holding out contention that it might just be windfall from President Trump’s obviously spellbinding long-term business model. I mean, do you really think the Chinese are going to go looking for revenue shares in the lo-fi recordings financial sector? Yeah, didn’t think so…
Some of the top sellers over the course of the year were (obviously) the Guardians and Stranger Things soundtracks, but Eminem (The Eminem Show), Prince (Purple Rain re-issue), and Twenty One Pilots (Blurryface) also fared nicely.
Before you go selling off all your worldly possessions to open up your own boombox repair shop, though, be advised that the increase in cassettes still only accounted for less than a single percent (0.17) of all physical album sales. Apparently, compact discs are still crushing it (just ask your local Best Buy manager).
TOP SELLING CASSETTES OF 2017 (US):
01. Soundtrack: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 (19,000 copies sold)
02. Soundtrack: Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (15,000 copies sold)
03. Soundtrack: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Mix, Vol. 1 (5,000 copies sold)
04. Soundtrack: Stranger Things, Volume One (3,000 copies sold)
05. Eminem, The Eminem Show (3,000 copies sold)
06. Various Artists, The Hamilton Mixtape (3,000 copies sold)
07. Prince and The Revolution, Purple Rain (2,000 copies sold)
08. Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface (2,000 copies sold)
09. Kanye West, Yeezus (2,000 copies sold)
10. Nirvana, Nevermind (2,000 copies sold)