Re: Spotify Global Weekly Top Songs Chart

Bob,

This letter made me chuckle, because you ain’t wrong. And what Spotify shows for last week unwittingly aligns with what we sell as PHYSICAL copies in an indie record store in St. Louis (Euclid Records).

When it comes to sales of FMac Rumours, they should just issue that album to every child at birth!

And that Goo Goo Dolls ranking is not surprising to us.

Here’s a snapshot of our top sellers for 2024. The totals are a combination of new and used vinyl & CDs:

DESCRIPTION NAME SALESLAST365

1. Aerovons “Resurrection” 330

2. Chappell Roan “The Rise and Fall 184

of a Midwest Princess”

3. Taylor Swift “The Tortured Poets 172

Department”

4. Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” 95

5. Goo Goo Dolls “Greatest Hits Vol. 1” 75

6. Charli XCX “Brat” 65

7. Vince Guaraldi “Charlie Brown 60

Xmas”

8. Taylor Swift “Midnights” 58

9. Taylor Swift “1989 T.’s Version” 57

10. Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” 52

11. Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard and 52

Soft”

12. MF DOOM “Mm…Food” 52

13. Vampire Weekend “Only God Was 52

Above Us”

14. Led Zeppelin “IV (ZOSO)” 51

15. Pink Floud “Dark Side of the 47

Moon”

16. Beatles “White Album” 46

17. Jack White No Name 46

18. The Cure “Songs of a Lost 44

World”

19. Kendrick Lamar “Good Kid 43

M.A.A.D. City”

20. Sturgill Simpson/ “Passage Du Desir” 43

Johnny Blue Skies

21. Weezer Blue Album 43

22. Beatles “Revolver” 42

23. Noah Kahan “Stick Season” 42

24. Hozier Hozier 39

25. Beyoncé “Cowboy Carter” 38

26. Olivia Rodrigo “Guts” 38

27. Smile “Wall of Eyes” 37

We sold 30 copies of Arctic Monkeys AM in 2024. And this year, it remains a title we can’t get enough of to keep in regular stock.

And we are continually astounded at how much Journey (and Kansas!) gets scooped up. It’s used vinyl, because the labels haven’t re-issued them yet. Meaning, we can only sell what used copies come in the door, so their sales are limited by inventory.

It’s intriguing to see Spotify numbers translating to when people of all ages decide it’s time to have a physical copy of it.

And side bar to a previous letter topic:

We need a music streaming service on our iPad to play sealed new releases in the store to generate in-store interest and sales (labels just don’t send promo copies like they used to).

We recently canceled our Spotify subscription and hooked up with Tidal.

The sound quality is noticeably better.

And many of our popular sellers (like King Gizz) are no longer on Spotify. We need a streamer that HAS the artists whose new titles we’re trying to sell.

Thanks for another intriguing letter,

Toby Weiss