Cassette sales near two-decade high as GEN-Z fuel retro renaissance
Sheffield quartet and Harry Styles push sales to their highest since 2003
Sales of cassettes have reached their highest level in almost two decades as artists including the Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles fuel demand for the retro format.
UK cassette sales rose more than 5pc in 2022 to hit a total of 195,000, marking the tenth consecutive year of growth, according to figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
While tapes remain a tiny part of the overall music market, sales are now at their highest since 2003, when the two most popular titles were Now That’s What I Call Music compilations and Irish singer Daniel O’Donnell’s best-selling album.
It follows a recent resurgence in the popularity of vinyl, which outsold CDs for the first time in 35 years in 2022, as younger listeners drive a retro renaissance.
Sophie Jones, interim chief executive of the BPI, said: “For many of us growing up, cassettes were a rite of passage as we listened to our favourite artists. So it’s heartening that this once much-loved format is back in vogue, even if still a tiny part of music consumption overall.
“While streaming is by far the leading format, the renewed popularity of cassettes and vinyl highlights the continuing importance of the physical market and the many ways fans have to consume music.”
Arctic Monkeys had the best-selling cassette last year with the Sheffield quartet’s seventh album The Car, finishing ahead of Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, which was the top album across all formats.
Florence and The Machine, Muse, Robbie Williams and The 1975 were among the other artists making up the top 10.
All but two of the 10 best-selling cassettes shifted more than 5,000 units during the year.
Alongside new releases, music fans also picked up re-releases of classic albums such as Iron Maiden’s The Number Of The Beast, which was reissued on cassette last year to mark its 40th anniversary.
The original soundtrack to the 2014 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy, which features tracks by 10cc, David Bowie and Marvin Gaye, also enjoyed strong sales.
The renewed interest in cassettes marks a turnaround for the format, which led the UK albums market between 1985 and 1992 before being overtaken by CDs.
By 2012, total annual tape sales had plunged to below 4,000 before a revival that reached its high-point in 2020, when sales almost doubled in a single year to 160,000.