INTRODUCING THE INDIE VINYL SALES CHART

In partnership with StreetPulse and Record Store Day, HITS is delighted to announce the launch of the weekly Indie Vinyl Sales chart, which will track point-of-sale data from independent retailers—currently 200+, with plenty more on the way.

The first #1 on this Top 50 chart belongs to Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version); it's perhaps no surprise that the Republic retail mastermind has three titles in the chart's Top 5. Fleetwood Mac's indefatigable Rumours (Warner) sits at #2, while troubadour Noah Kahan claims a spot in the Top 5 with Stick Season (Mercury/ Republic). See the whole chart here.

All of which is dandy, especially for those of us whose turntables get a lot of action. But why this chart now?

Effective 12/29, data provider Luminate stopped weighting sales from record stores, a practice that had previously boosted numbers from any single reporting store to offset/account for transactions made by non-reporting stores in the same area. Instead, the company now only counts sales reported directly to it from 72 record stores out of over 1,500. With so many non-reporting stores across the continent, Luminate's Billboard chart-powering data is thus no longer an accurate reflection of the ever-growing marketplace, prompting indie record stores to strike out on their own.

Coalition of Independent Music Stores President and Record Store Day co-founder Andrea Paschal says retailers tried to forge a working relationship with Luminate but were "ignored and left in the dark, often finding out by word of mouth after the fact about major decisions that affected our stores." These were, she adds, "decisions that continued to erode and marginalize the efforts and sales taking place in indie stores while also misrepresenting the contributions of these unique retailers to the overall tally of physical goods sold and to the music industry as a whole, because their reporting is based on what you would call a mere data-sample representation of existing independent record stores."

Among the stores now reporting exclusively to the new chart is Atlanta's beloved Criminal Records; owner Eric Levin is also the founder of the Alliance of Independent Media Stores and a co-founder of Record Store Day. "My store has been a proud SoundScan reporter since 1991. We treated it like a badge of honor," he says. "When Luminate took over and began enforcing new rules and regulations on us, our relationship with them was over."

Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got our eye on a gorgeous new Oscar Peterson reissue. Record Store Day, incidentally, is slated for 4/20.