The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack franchise and Taylor Swift unspooled large numbers on cassette tape in 2023, because the mixed gross sales of the 2 accounted for 29% of all cassette albums offered within the U.S. final 12 months, in line with information monitoring agency Luminate. Additional, the highest five-selling cassette albums of 2023, in addition to six of the highest 10, have been all Swift and Guardians titles (see record, beneath).
2023’s top-selling cassette album within the U.S. was the Guardians of the Galaxy: Superior Combine Vol. 1 soundtrack, launched in 2014, with 18,000 offered. Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Model), launched final October, was the No. 2-seller, with 17,500 offered.
TOP 10-SELLING CASSETTE ALBUMS OF 2023 IN U.S.
- Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Superior Combine Vol. 1 (18,000)
- Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Model) (17,500)
- Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Superior Combine Vol. 2 (16,000)
- Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Superior Combine Vol. 3 (13,000)
- Taylor Swift, Communicate Now (Taylor’s Model) (11,500)
- Nirvana, Bleach (8,000)
- Metallica, 72 Seasons (7,500)
- Soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Combine, Vol. 1 (6,000)
- Soundtrack, Barbie: The Album (5,500)
- Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher (5,500)
Supply: Luminate, for the monitoring interval Dec. 30, 2022, by way of Dec. 28, 2023.
In whole, 436,400 cassette albums have been offered within the U.S. in 2023, down simply 0.75% as in contrast the configuration’s quantity in 2022 (439,700).
Cassettes accounted for a mere 0.41% of the whole 105.32 million albums offered within the U.S. throughout all configurations mixed – cassette, vinyl, CD, digital obtain, and so on. Cassettes have been as soon as the main configuration for all album purchases within the U.S. – from the early Nineteen Eighties till the early ‘90s. In 1994, for instance, 40% of all albums offered have been on cassette – with 246 million cassettes offered that 12 months of an total 615 million albums. Although the configuration now accounts for a tiny slice of whole album gross sales, cassettes have staged a mini-comeback within the final decade. The as soon as practically useless cassette went from simply 50,000 copies offered within the U.S. in 2014 to over 400,000 in every of the final two years. As soon as extensively obtainable at retail shops, cassette tapes are actually often offered completely on an artist’s webstore and in collectible editions.
‘Guardians’ & Swift Sizzle on Tape
In 2023, the 4 Guardians soundtracks obtainable on cassette (three movie soundtracks and one TV soundtrack) offered 52,500 copies. As literal mixtapes issue into the story of Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it’s not shocking that Guardians’ soundtracks on cassette promote effectively.
As for Swift, her catalog of albums obtainable on cassette offered 74,500 in 2023.
Mixed, the cassette gross sales of the Guardians albums and Swift’s albums totaled 127,000 in 2023 – accounting for simply over 29% of all cassette album gross sales final 12 months (127,000 of 436,400).
The Guardians albums have been constant sellers on cassette tape because the first Guardians album, Superior Combine Vol. 1, was launched in 2014. Total, the 4 Guardians albums have offered 295,000 copies on cassette, by way of Feb. 15, 2024.
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