Thanks to Jack White, vinyl record sales continue to grow in 2018

In an era where music listening is dominated by digital streaming services, there's still plenty of interest in good old fashioned vinyl records — and Jack White is leading the resistance.

According to new figures released by Nielsen Music, vinyl album sales were up 19.2 percent in the first half of 2018, with 7.6 million vinyl albums sold so far. And White's third solo album, Boarding House Reach, is the year's top-selling vinyl record, with 37,000 copies sold.

Not only that, but Boarding House Reach also claimed the biggest vinyl sales week of the year, which was also the fourth-largest week for a vinyl album since Nielsen began tracking in 1991. (However, White's second solo album, 2014's Lazaretto, still holds the top spot for the largest vinyl sales week, with selling more than 40,000 copies in its first week.)

This year's other top-selling vinyl records so far include Kendrick Lamar's DAMN., followed by the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, Michael Jackson's Thriller and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. If the trend continues, vinyl record sales could be on track to for its 13th consecutive year of growth.

Of course, White has long been fascinated by vinyl, long before it was fashionable. The White Stripes released their debut single, "Let's Shake Hands," in 1998 on Detroit's Italy Rrecords. White built a physical location for his record label, Third Man Records, in Nashville in 2009, and expanded it to Detroit in 2015.
Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.