Sorry, Urban Outfitters, But Amazon Is Actually the World’s Biggest Vinyl Retailer

Photo via Urban Outfitters

Last week, clothing and lifestyle outlet Urban Outfitters claimed it was the world’s biggest seller of vinyl. “Music is very, very important to the Urban customer… in fact, we are the world’s number one vinyl seller,” Calvin Hollinger, the company’s Chief Administrative Officer, said in a meeting with the outlet’s analysts, as reported by Buzzfeed.

It turns out the claim might’ve been a bit premature. According to Billboard, who performed a survey of labels, distributors and wholesalers, Urban isn’t the biggest vinyl seller in the U.S., but the second. The top spot belongs to Amazon, the online distribution giant, which claims about a 12.3% market share. Urban, by comparison, is number two at around 8.1%. (That’s still much higher than third place Hastings Entertainment, which came in at 2.8%.)

Billboard‘s Ed Christman points out that Amazon has a much larger international presence than Urban, which has only around 50 stores outside of the United States (compared with 300 here). He also quotes an anonymous executive who claims Urban’s success with selling vinyl has made other retailers consider stocking it. But for now, they’ll have to settle for second place. 

However, it’s worth noting that if Urban Outfitters had qualified their claim by saying they are the world’s biggest physical retailer of vinyl, they would have a case.

Read “Wax and Wane”, Joel Oliphint’s look at the vinyl comeback. 

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