While CD sales plummet, Jack White has found that returning to the roots may actually pay off. The ‘Lazaretto’ artist broke the sales record for vinyl, since SoundScan began tracking vinyl sales in 1991, with 40,000 copies sold since the album was released last week.
The LP contains numerous unusual bonus features, which must have intrigued consumers. Prior to this, the vinyl sales record was Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy (1994), which sold 34,000 copies. That album was released two weeks in advance on vinyl, thus sparking the higher sales numbers.
The unusual Lazaretto features include that the album can be played at three different speeds, that side A plays from inside to outside, and that there are bonus track material hidden under the album label in the center.
Lazaretto also reached number one in total sales, with 138,000 copies sold. His first solo release, Blunderbuss, also topped the charts with 138,000 copies sold in the first week. Lazaretto beat out Miranda Lambert’s Platinum, the soundtrack for Frozen, and Brantley Gilberts’ “Just As I Am,” none of which exceeded 70,000 copies sold.
For more Jack White media, you can read our review of the album, and listen to the soundboard recording from his headlining set at Bonnaroo.
-David Melamed (@DMelamz)