Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine Fare Well With 2018 Record Store Day Returns
How did you make out on Record Store Day? Odds are pretty good a fair number of hard rock fans are sporting new vinyl from Led Zeppelin or Rage Against the Machine. The sales figures are in from Record Store Day, with Led Zeppelin dominating the Record Store Days singles sales, while Rage Against the Machine's Live at the Democratic Nation Convention 2000 was also quite popular for fans picking up full-length vinyl album offerings.
Led Zeppelin RSD single featured "Friends" and "Rock and Roll." The special edition release bested David Bowie's "Let's Dance" full-length demo and Sufjan Stevens' "Mystery of Love," which placed second and third on the singles list. Other Record Store Day singles that did well, according to Billboard's tallies, were Jimi Hendrix's "Mannish Boy / Trash Men" at No. 6, Descendents' "Who We Are" at No. 10 and Def Leppard's "Live at Abbey Road" at No. 17.
On the albums side, Bruce Springsteen's red vinyl Greatest Hits set topped the Record Store Day sales, while Rage Against the Machine's Live at the Democratic National Convention 2000 was the biggest hard rock seller coming in at No. 4. The mono edition of Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn placed sixth, the Ramones' Sundragon Sessions finished thirteenth and Soundgarden's A-Sides landed at No. 19.
In total, 733,000 vinyl albums were sold during Record Store Day week around the world, which is the largest week ever for vinyl sales during a Record Store Day week. It's also the biggest sales week for vinyl outside of the Christmas season since Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991. Vinyl sales jumped 190 percent from the previous week, with much of the sales coming from the independent record stores promoting Record Store Day. According to Billboard, total album sales were up 23 percent at independent record stores over what they were after Record Store Day last year.
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