Album sales prove classics will never go out of fashion

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

The top twenty selling albums in Ireland in 2021 included Queen, Abba (twice) and Fleetwood Mac, with Elton John just missing out at number eleven. Which tells us one of two things – either people don’t buy music, in any format, anymore, or the old songs are still the best.

The chart does include Olivia Rodrigo and Dua Lipa representing something of a new generation – and while there were albums from Dermot Kennedy, Adele and Ed Sheeran in there too, they’re not exactly the Sex Pistols our parents would have recoiled to.

The nostalgic feel is even stronger if you concentrate on vinyl sales alone – and there has been a renaissance on that front – because the first half of last year saw Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours take top spot ahead of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Fleetwood Mac again at number three with their Greatest Hits.

Queen’s Greatest Hits were just ahead of Bob Marley, and while Harry Styles was at number six, the rest of the best included the Cranberries’ Greatest Hits, Glen Hansard Live at Sydney Opera House, ahead of Dermot Kennedy and, a real powerful new voice, For Those I Love, keeping Nirvana’s Greatest Hits and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black out of that top ten.

The nostalgia kick is not just here either; the latest music industry data from Britain and the US shows listeners turning away from the latest releases, as people rediscover music that is a year or more, often much more, past its release date.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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